Wayne D. Parsons - Honolulu, HI

Wayne Parsons came to Hawai'i from Michigan in 1967 as an astronomer and engineer working at the Mount Haleakala Astronomical Observatory on Maui. At the observatory he worked on the moon landing mission in 1969 where he was in communication with the astronauts when they landed on the moon. He fell in love with Hawai'i and the ocean and changed his career path to become a lawyer. His connection with people led him to become a personal injury trial lawyer.

As a trial lawyer, Wayne Parsons has been involved in virtually every type of litigation in all Hawai'i courts, earning a reputation for achieving success in even the most complex cases. In the late 1970's he represented several Hawai'i activists who reclaimed the Island of Kaho'olawe and were charged with trespass by the U.S. government. They were pioneers of the Hawai'i sovereignty movement in the Protect Kaho'olawe coalition.

In recognition of his legal work, Mr. Parsons has been selected for inclusion in SuperLawyers, a ranking of attorneys in each state who received the highest point totals, as chosen by other lawyers through the independent research of Law & Politics magazine. In 2006, Mr. Parsons was elected President of the Hawai'i State Bar Association which represents all licensed lawyers in Hawai'i. He founded the Hawai'i Association for Justice (HAJ) in 1987 and for 24 years has also served as one of two Hawai'i trial lawyers on the Board of Governors of the prestigious American Association for Justice (AAJ), the powerful organization that counts as members all of the great personal injury trial attorneys in the United States. Mr. Parsons is the current president of the Melvin M. Belli Society, a national organization of trial attorneys which promotes improving the skills of trial attorneys throughout the country in memory of the King of Torts, Mel Belli.

Mr. Parsons is committed also to injury prevention and safety, and works throughout Hawai'i to educate the public, elected officials and educators about steps they can take to prevent avoidable injuries. As a supporter of the Casey Feldman Foundation and the End Distracted Driving movement over the past two years, he has spoken to nearly 3,000 Hawai'i high school students about distracted driving, encouraging safer driving habits through awareness of the realities of driving with manual, visual or cognitive distractions. He helped organize hundreds of trial lawyers across the country to give presentations on this subject and he welcomes requests for presentations from any group throughout the Islands. Mr. Parsons also writes on practical safety and injury prevention subjects on The Legal Examiner, and he publishes a safety and injury prevention magazine that is free for the asking entitled "Living Safer." He founded the People's Law School in Hawai'i, a six-week adult education course teaching people about their rights and the practical aspects of how the legal system works.

Mr. Parsons would rather prevent avoidable injuries through education and advocacy, but when an injury occurs he believes that if no one is accountable, no one is safe. His experience as a trial lawyer is a way for the injured person and their family to make sure their tragedy never happens to another person. His clients do a public service by pursuing justice against wrongdoers.

Mr. Parsons takes a service-oriented approach to the practice of law, working directly with each of his clients instead of passing them off to paralegals or associates. He strives to be accessible, returning calls and responding promptly to inquiries as the case progresses.