James Parkinson

James Parkinson

Slovak Baron Empey Murphy & Pinkney LLP

Email: Parkinson@sbemp.com 

PRACTICE AREAS

• Trial Law
• Class Action
• Civil Litigation
• International Law

BAR ADMISSIONS

James W. Parkinson is admitted to practice in California, the United States Supreme Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

PAST PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Desert Bar Association (Member, Board of Trustees, 1990, 2000-2001) and Riverside County Bar Association; The State Bar of California; American Association for Justice (formerly, The Association of Trial Lawyers of America – Past member, Board of Governors, 1987-1989); American Board of Trial Advocates. (ABOTA) (Associate); Consumer Attorneys of California; Consumer Attorneys of Southern California; Co-Chair of the Republican Trial Lawyer Caucus Association of Trial Lawyers of America (2004-2005); Chairman of the Republican Trial Lawyer Caucus Association of Trial Lawyers of America (2003-2004); National Speakers Association (2009).

AWARDS

California Trial Lawyers Association Presidential Award of Merit (1987); Consumer Attorneys of California Award of Merit (1997); Association of Trial Lawyers of America Citation of Excellence (Wiedemann Wysocki) (2003-2004) (2004 -2005); Association of Trial Lawyers of America Distinguished Service Award (2005); J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University Honored Alumni of the Year Award for 2006; Naval Institute Press 2006 Author of the Year Award for book entitled Soldier Slaves, Abandoned by the White House, Courts, and Congress (I shared the honor with my co-author Lee Benson) (2006). Jefferson Award for Public Service 2007; Federal Bar Association Defender of the Constitution Award for the Inland Empire (2008).

SIGNIFICANT CASES

Ellis v. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. For purposes of this litigation, I was of counsel to Robinson, Calcagnie and Robinson, and Casey, Gerry, Reed & Schenk.  This was the California case against Big Tobacco in coordination with the national Castano Group.

Harold Poole, et al., v. Nippon Steel, et al. I was counsel in individual cases and class action cases against Japanese corporations that used captured American soldiers as slave laborers during World War II.

PAST BOARD PARTICIPATION

United Way of the Desert; Community Advisory Board, El Dorado Bank; Community Advisory Board, Eisenhower Hospital; Indio Economic Development Committee; Boys Club of Coachella Valley; Lincoln Club of the Coachella Valley; Board of Visitors of J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University; Chairman, Orrin G. Hatch Distinguished Trial Lawyer Lecture Series, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University.

CURRENT BOARD PARTICIPATION

Chairman, Literacy for The 21st Century Program.

EMPLOYMENT

Author, Lecturer, International Businessman (Hotels/ Tanzania).

EDUCATION

Brigham Young University (B.A., Magna Cum Laude, 1973; J.D., 1976); Phi Kappa Phi; Phi Alpha Delta; Blue Key. Also, attended summer sessions at University of Hawaii, 1967; College of the Desert, 1968.

PAST EMPLOYMENT

Associate at Offices of Thomas T. Anderson, Indio, California; Partner at the Law Offices of Anderson, Parkinson, Weinberg & Miller, Indio, California; Partner at the Law Offices of Regar & Parkinson; Partner at the Law Offices of Welebir, McCune, Parkinson & Jure. Presidential Ambassador for Southern Utah University and Distinguished Fellow for International Engagement (Michael T. Benson). Special Assistant to Chairman of Waterford Institute.

PUBLICATIONS

1. Soldier Slaves, Abandoned by the White House, Courts, and Congress, by James W. Parkinson and Lee Benson, originally published by the Naval Institute Press 2006.

Soldier Slaves is a book about American soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II and their subsequent attempt, some six decades later, to gain acknowledgment and redress from the private Japanese companies that used them as slave labor from 1942 through 1945.

The foreword to the book was written by Senator Orrin Hatch and then Senator Joe Biden. (Now Vice President Biden). Tom Brokaw wrote the following endorsement for the book: “This long overdue story of great courage and great suffering rewarded with great injustice should be required reading for every member of Congress. It is a tale to make you at once proud and angry.”

2. Turning Red States Blue, Obama’s Mission to Win the Republican Voteby Wilbur O. Colom and James W. Parkinson, Genesis Press 2008.
3. Autodidactic: Self-Taughtby James W. Parkinson, Genesis Press 2009.
4. The Third Source; A Message of Hope for Educationby Dustin Hull Heuston with James W. Parkinson. Genesis Press 2011.
5. The Big Three and Meby Billy Casper with James W. Parkinson and Lee Benson.
6. Changing the World One Book at a Time.

DOCUMENTARY

Produced and narrated the documentary, The Inheritance of War. The documentary is an Ashley Karras production and it is based on the book Soldier Slaves, Abandoned by the White House, Courts, and Congress.

The Inheritance of War premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival in 2009. Since that then it has been shown at the Las Vegas Film Festival, the Foursite Film Festival, the LDS Film Festival, and the GI Film Festival in Washington D.C. The film has won two awards.