Lynda L. Parks is the founder of Lynda L. Parks Law, LLC, a personal injury firm based in Dalton, Georgia. She has helped her clients recover more than $1.19 million in settlements.
I asked Lynda what led her to start her own firm.
Before law, Lynda studied communications at Auburn University, interned at Turner Broadcasting, and worked at CNN. She spent years as a paralegal while raising her children — and somewhere along the way, a trip to the O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles sealed it. She drove herself across the city with no GPS and no cell phone, spent three days getting to know the security guard on the ninth floor until he let her in, and watched the proceedings from inside the courtroom.
"I came back and I was like, that's it," she said. "I just spent three whole days in there going, I want to do this."
She went to law school, where one of her professors was Randy Kessler — a frequent Court TV contributor. He invited her along to a CNN taping, where she sat with Nancy Grace before the cameras rolled.
"She is the nicest person in the entire world," Lynda said.
After graduating, she worked at a large personal injury firm. The experience clarified exactly what she wanted to build — and what she didn't.
"Their job is to move people quickly, get them in, get them out," she said. "I would get to know people that were having a lot of trouble, and I'd go, we need to do more. And you kind of can't."
What drove her out was the same thing that drove her in.
"I've had kind of this desire to be an advocate since probably seventh grade. I just hate bullies."
At her firm, she visits the intersection where an accident happened, pulls the police report, checks the defendant's history, sometimes gets the 911 call, and interviews the officer. She negotiates medical bills down so clients actually see money in their pocket. And she gives her cell phone number to her clients.
"If you want somebody that's going to be kind of a partner in this — my firm is not so big that I can't take your call very late. I'm going to look at every single thing. I'm going to look at the intersection, look at the police report, see if the defendant has past records. I'm going to go a whole lot deeper, and your case is going to be worth a whole lot more."
"If I sign you up as a client," she said, "I'm there for you from start to finish."
Are you dealing with a personal injury matter in Georgia? Connect with Lynda Parks, Esq. and check out Lynda L. Parks Law, LLC.