Larry H. Parker, a personal injury attorney who promised to “fight for you,” dies at 75

Larry H. Parker, an accident and personal injury attorney whose television commercials promised he would “fight for you” and became a fixture in Los Angeles living rooms, died March 6 in San Juan Capistrano, California. He was 75.

His death was confirmed by his son, Justin Parker, who did not state the cause.

Over the years, Angelenos became familiar with Mr. Parker’s personal boasts and promise, as his face was featured on billboards around the city and in television advertisements.

“When it comes to the law, you want someone who carries a big stick,” says a narrator a commercial that ranges from a hockey fight to a shot of Mr. Parker in a suit and glasses, standing with both hands on a desk, ready for a confrontation in the courtroom.

“People sometimes ask me why I seem so angry in my TV commercials,” Mr. Parker said in another ad. “The truth is, I’m angry. I am angry when big insurance companies take advantage of small people.”

His advertisements cultivated the image of a legal fighter whose menacing screen presence could be used to the plaintiff’s advantage.

It appeared that the injured were eager to utilize the services of his firm, the Law Offices of Larry H. Parker. Since its founding 50 years ago, the company has recovered more than $2 billion in judgments and settlements, according to its website.

“I wanted the consumer to see someone who cared about their rights,” Mr. Parker said in an interview Interview from 1995 with The Los Angeles Times. “They see me, the real man.”

The centerpiece of many advertisements was a parade of testimonials from victims of injury or hardship, although beneath the large banner displaying the company’s 800 number was small print noting that the accounts were a dramatization played by “actors pretending to be as victims of injuries in fictional films’. fallen.”

The ads were clearly part of a campy brand popular among personal injury lawyers, but Mr. Parker positioned himself as a champion of those who felt powerless against faceless insurance giants.

“If the insurance companies would just treat these people fairly,” Mr. Parker told The Times, “they would put guys like me out of business.”

Larry Hugh Parker was born on August 26, 1948 in Philadelphia to Ben Parker and Netty (Reardon) Parker.

He graduated from California State University, Los Angeles in 1970 with a degree in psychology. After attending Southwestern Law School, he received a California State Bar certification in 1973, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mr. Parker is survived by his wife, Irene Parker; his son Justin; two daughters, Shelley and Jodi Parker; and three granddaughters.

The company’s commercials began airing around 1982. Later, during the OJ Simpson trial, his ads became more widely known as viewers were glued to their television screens in what would become a global cultural moment. But advertising time during the trial was also busier, he said.

“It helps, and it hurts,” Mr. Parker said in the 1995 Times article. “It helps because there are a lot more people watching. On the other hand, it hurts because you can’t run your ad because the messaging is ahead of you.”

Those kinds of ads didn’t come without their own hidden costs, on top of the roughly $1 million on ads the company spent a year, according to an article from 1994 in De Tijden.

His commercials, and those of some of his competitors, sent California lawmakers into an uproar. Lawmakers and some trial attorneys feared that potential plaintiffs might think they could abuse the legal system for personal gain.

“If anyone looks at these ads, there is a common message,” a spokesperson for the California Trial Lawyers Association told The Times in 1994. “You can make a lot of money by ripping off the system.”

But Mr. Parker believed everyone should have a chance to fight back.

“We will always be attacked,” he said. “But at the end of the day, everyone needs a lawyer in their lives.”