J. Parker Miller

Parker Miller is a lawyer in the Firm’s Environmental Section, and focuses primarily on complex litigation and property owner and business-on-business environmental litigation. During the course of his career, Parker has counseled some of the largest business entities in the Southeast, and has served as co-counsel to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley in the valuation of the State of Alabama’s oil spill claims. In 2012, the Firm selected Parker as Environmental Section Lawyer of the Year for his efforts on behalf of his clients.

In 2014, Parker was profiled by Law 360, a national legal publication, as one of the top lawyers in the nation younger than 40. The publication recognized Parker as one of just five lawyers selected in the environmental litigation field. Parker has also been named a “Rising Star” by the prestigious Super Lawyers publication. The "Rising Star" designation recognizes outstanding lawyers younger than 40. Parker is also rated an AV Preeminent® attorney by Martindale-Hubbell – the highest possible Martindale-Hubbell rating a lawyer can achieve in the categories of legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communication ability and legal experience.

Parker has dedicated a significant portion of his practice to the BP oil spill litigation – a tragic consequence of the April 20, 2010, fire and explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana. The explosion set off the largest environmental disaster in United States history and what is considered to be the most significant litigation in recent history. Parker served as Second Chair to Beasley Allen’s Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee position, and participated in numerous strategy meetings and projects on behalf of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in New Orleans, La. Ultimately, the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee reached a landmark uncapped, multi-billion dollar settlement with BP for private claimants throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition, Parker has served as co-counsel to the Governor of Alabama, and has worked extensively to assess the State’s economic and environmental losses associated with the oil spill. Finally, Parker oversees the Firm’s fishermen and personal injury client base, and also represents hundreds of businesses throughout the covered region. To date, Parker has recovered millions in compensation for his clients in the litigation.

Parker has also worked extensively in the Hot Fuel Multi-District Litigation, which is consolidated in Kansas City, Kan., and is serving as Beasley Allen’s Second Chair to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. In that case, Parker represents numerous trucking companies and played a leadership role in coordinating national offensive discovery efforts and briefing against some of the largest oil companies in the world. Ultimately, these cases survived the class certification stage, and the litigation has achieved $21 million in settlements to date.

In addition to Parker’s work in complex litigation, he also represents businesses in environmental economic loss litigation, as well as property owners in property damage and contamination cases.

In the course of Parker’s career, he has been quoted in Law360, the Montgomery Advertiser as well as the Mobile Press Register. In addition, Parker has appeared as both an attorney host and guest on WSFA’s Law Call and The Beasley Allen Report television programs on numerous occasions. He has spoken at numerous legal seminars, including the following:

• Practicing and Succeeding as a Young Attorney, Faulkner University, Montgomery, Ala. (March 21, 2011).
• An Update on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Litigation, Beasley Allen Legal Strategies Conference, Atlanta, Ga. (September 15, 2011).
• Litigating the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, a Roundtable Discussion with Alabama Governor Robert Bentley’s legal counsel Cooper Shattuck, Alabama Solicitor General Corey Maze, Beasley Allen Attorney Parker Miller and Gulf Coast Claim Facility Alabama Chief Legal Advisor Gregory Hawley, Faulkner University (October 5, 2011).
• An Update on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Litigation, Beasley Allen Legal Strategies Conference, Montgomery, Ala. (November 20, 2011).
• Litigating Multi-District Litigation, A Case Study of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Toledo Federal Bar Association (January 23, 2012).
• Landing Employment in the Law, a Roundtable Discussion Sponsored by the Alabama Young Lawyers Division at the University of Alabama School of Law, Tuscaloosa, Ala. (January 31, 2013).
• The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill – An Analysis of Case Management and Legal Issues, American Inns of Court, Hugh Maddox Chapter, Montgomery, Ala. (February 7, 2013).

Parker graduated high school from Marengo Academy in 2001. He attended Auburn University and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 2005, and he received his law degree from Faulkner University in 2008. While attending law school, Parker studied international law abroad in conjunction with Tulane University at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, and was recognized as one of the nation’s finest student advocates after receiving the Lewis F. Powell Jr. American College of Trial Lawyers Medal of Excellence in Advocacy.

Parker maintains an active role in various local, state and national legal and non-legal societies. He was selected as an Alabama State Bar Young Lawyer executive committee member as well as a State of Alabama Young Lawyer Delegate to the American Bar Association. As part of his service, he was elected by his executive committee peers as an officer of the State Bar Young Lawyers program. He is also a committee member to the Alabama State Bar’s Volunteer Lawyers Program – a program dedicated to providing free legal assistance to those who could otherwise not afford it; a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Grievance Committee; the American Association for Justice and the Association’s Oil Spill Litigation Taskforce; the American Inns of Court, Hugh Maddox Chapter; chairman of the Alabama State Bar Admission Ceremony; and former chairman of the Father Walters Charity Golf Tournament.

Parker was raised on a cattle farm in Dayton, Ala., and is the son of Mary and Tommy Miller. He is married to the former Ashley Brownsberger of Tampa Bay, Fla., and attends St. Peter’s Church in Montgomery, Ala.