Joseph Parker Miller

“His efforts were nothing short of exceptional” – Beasley Allen Principal & Founder Jere Beasley on Parker Miller’s work in the State of Alabama’s $2.3 billion oil spill litigation and settlement with BP. Jere Beasley Report, August 2015

Parker is a Principal in the Firm’s Personal Injury and Products Liability Section. He is a husband, a father and a fierce advocate for his clients. Since joining the firm in 2008, Parker has established himself as a force in cases of national significance. Previously, the firm selected him as Toxic Torts Section Lawyer of the Year in 2012 and in 2014. Parker is rated an AV Preeminent® attorney by Martindale-Hubbell (4.9 out of 5.0) - the highest possible Martindale-Hubbell rating a lawyer can achieve in the categories of legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communication ability and legal experience.

He has been profiled by Law 360 on two different occasions as one of the top lawyers in the nation younger than 40. The prestigious Super Lawyers publication has designated Parker a “Rising Star” - a designation that recognizes the top 2.5 percent of lawyers younger than 40. Based on his professional achievements and leadership role with numerous organizations, the Alabama State Bar selected Parker to be one of only 30 lawyers in the State Bar’s 2015 Leadership Forum. The Leadership Forum is a highly competitive Forum designed to bring together tomorrow’s leaders of the Bar from across the State.

Parker’s primary focus has always been in high-stakes, complex litigation. He currently represents survivors and their families in a wide range of catastrophic injury or death cases, including product liability cases involving vehicles, the workplace, or failed safety devices. These cases oftentimes involve results that alter relationships, families, and lives. To that end, his guiding principal is to have a lasting, positive influence on the lives of others, and he puts that principal into practice by guiding families through the legal process in hopes to help them obtain a new, better normal.

Before joining Beasley Allen’s Personal Injury and Products Liability Section, Parker worked in the Firm’s Toxic Torts Section, where he maintained a diverse practice and successfully litigated cases on a wide variety of legal topics, including personal injury, toxic exposure, business-on-business product defect litigation, consumer fraud, and a large charitable trust dispute. Parker played a major role in what is considered to be one of the most significant, high-stakes cases in history – the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation – where he served as co-lead counsel for the State of Alabama, co-counsel to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, and was deputized a Deputy Attorney General of the State of Alabama by Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. Parker was a point person for Alabama before the Court, served as the architect for the State’s economic and property damage models, and was a member of Alabama’s settlement negotiation team. After years of litigation, BP agreed to pay the State of Alabama $2.3 billion in what is considered to be one of the most significant settlements in Alabama’s history. In addition, Transocean agreed to pay the State of Alabama $20 million.

Parker was also selected to serve as Beasley Allen’s Second Chair to the oil spill Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in New Orleans, La. Ultimately, the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee reached a landmark, uncapped settlement with BP for private claimants throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Parker oversaw the Firm’s fishermen and personal injury clients devastated by the spill. In addition, Parker represented hundreds of businesses throughout the affected area that lost business revenues as a result of the spill. To date, he has recovered tens of millions of dollars in compensation on behalf of his private clients in the litigation.

Parker also played a leadership role in the Hot Fuel Multi-District Litigation, where he served as Beasley Allen’s Second Chair to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. The litigation, which is consolidated in Kansas City, Kan., was designed to ensure fairness in every American consumer motor fuel purchase. In that case, Parker represented numerous trucking companies and assumed a leadership role in coordinating national offensive discovery efforts against the largest oil companies in the world. Ultimately, these cases survived the class certification stage, and the litigation has achieved in excess of $20 million in settlements to date.

During the course of his career, Parker has been quoted in Law 360, the Montgomery Advertiser and the Mobile Press Register. He has also appeared on numerous occasions as both an attorney host and guest on WSFA’s Law Call and The Beasley Allen Report television programs. Parker is a frequent speaker and lecturer.

Parker is also a leading figure in a number of legal organizations, particularly the Alabama State Bar, where he is an at-large Bar Commissioner, a member of the State Bar President’s Executive Committee, and a member of the Local Bar Task Force. Parker is also President of the State Bar Young Lawyers Division and is a graduate of the State Bar’s prestigious Leadership Forum, where he was nominated as Class Representative by his peers and currently serves as Co-chair of the 2017 Leadership Forum Class. Parker is also a member of the Alabama Association for Justice (ALAJ), where he recently won a heavily contested state-wide election to be one of four officers in the organization’s Emerging Leaders caucus.

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

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 together they have one daughter, Sophia Elizabeth Miller, and attend St. Peters in Montgomery, Ala.