For over 30 years, Eric J. Parker has helped countless clients recover compensation as a result of serious personal injuries. But that’s not the only way he has made an impact on the Boston legal community. Parker also spends his time working with law students at Suffolk University Law School to help ensure they are fully prepared to practice law after graduation.
Parker graduated from Suffolk Law in 1986 and, after nearly thirty years of private practice, was offered an adjunct faculty position teaching a course focusing on the real-life aspects of tort litigation. His course, Practice Ready: Tort Litigation, began in 2015 and incorporates a series of weekend networking sessions, led by Parker at the law school, that are designed to build a peer-to-peer community among his students and foster key skills. Sample topics include maintaining a healthy work-life balance, managing client expectations, and avoiding ethical conflicts.
Parker’s course and his networking sessions also emphasize the importance of prioritizing the value of hands-on experience overcompensation, particularly in the short term. “A person working 60-80 hours per week at a large law firm, earning $160,000 per year may not try a single case in their first 10 years,” he says. Meanwhile, a boutique law firm attorney may try several during the same time and gain invaluable courtroom experience. “That experience”, he explains, “will really pay-off down the road.”
Parker takes great pride in providing a unique learning experience for his students who are about to start their careers as attorneys. “My class and the networking sessions I lead, share the same goal: to turn law clerks and junior associates into ‘keepers,’” he says.
His Practice Ready: Tort Litigation course also addresses more general topics, such as how to deal with office dynamics, how to mine invaluable information from legal publications, and how best to improve legal writing skills which he believes is of paramount importance for all newly minted lawyers.
There’s no doubt that students can learn a great deal from Parker, a successful personal injury attorney who is the co-founder and managing partner of Parker Scheer LLP. Parker is well-known for obtaining sizable recoveries for his clients. Parker is listed in the prestigious volume: Best Lawyers in America, under the dual categories of “product liability law” and “personal injury law” and has been repeatedly listed as among the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” in the state by Super Lawyers Magazine.
Read the full article on the Practice Ready Networking Sessions in the most recent issue of Suffolk Law Alumni Magazine.
