Jul. 18—Walk around the Parnall Law Firm and it’s very much a family affair. Photos from all 115+ employees’ families line the walls. Sitting throughout the office’s shelves are awards from Make-A-Wish Foundation and Meals on Wheels, plaques and photos for Parnall scholarships for teens leading the fight against texting and driving, and yet more photos of kids, seniors and their families working with various members of the firm over the years. Even the conference rooms come with biographies of founder Bert Parnall’s family, rooted in New Mexico history.
There’s Parnall’s grandfather, William Edward Parnall, a Harvard-trained orthopedic surgeon who came to the Land of Enchantment in the 1940s because the state had a need for specialists. He brought with him his daughter, Carolyn, and his son Theodore, with his son William born soon after. Ted, who gets his own conference room, would go on to become dean of the University of New Mexico’s law school, and William became a judge in Albuquerque. Their sister, Carolyn, became a nurse and an accomplished writer, whose writings focused on addressing pain, suffering and medical justice.
However, the name on the entryway is that of Bertrand Russell Parnall, the firm’s founder and owner. Bert, as he’s commonly known in TV commercials, billboards and in the firm’s ubiquitous Uptown office logo — “Hurt? Call Bert” — was born in 1970, one of Ted’s three sons. He was named for English philosopher Bertrand Russell, a favorite writer of his parents who died at the age of 97 the year Bert was born. Russell was a Literature Nobel Prize-winning humanist who opposed war and colonialization and championed freedom of thought.
The inspiration for all three of his sons going into law, Ted Parnall focused his career on corporate and international transaction law, and legal development across the world, with stints in Liberia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Egypt, Tunisia, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Afghanistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Serbia/Montenegro, raising his sons in several of those countries.
However, Bert’s legal inspiration came more from the philosopher for whom he was named: rooted in humanism and becoming a champion for the voiceless. Seeing the famine in Ethiopia when he was 5, Egypt at age 7 and Tunisia at age 13 left deep impressions on Bert.
“So, the scene, the contrast, just makes you think about justice. I’m not a fighter necessarily, but I will stand up for what I think is right, so that helped me get into the law,” says Bert, who has a poster of boxer Muhammad Ali’s famous short poem “Me, We” on the back of his office door. The piece was written in praise of community.
Bert started his career as a prosecutor in Valencia and Sandoval counties before transitioning to a civil practice in 2004 and founding Parnall Law in 2009.
“On the criminal side, the consequences are prison or jail, which doesn’t fix anything, but it’s at least accountability,” Bert says. “On the civil side, it is about money, and that doesn’t really make things better, either. But it’s about accountability, consequence, and it’s an acknowledgement for our clients who are severely hurt. They would, all of them, rather rewind to the day before so they can avoid it entirely, but they can’t, and so that consequence is what we try to achieve for them.”
And achieve they have — to the tune of more than $400 million in settlements for their clients — always guided by the firm’s foundational values: teamwork, talent, truth, tenacity, and triumph.
“Fighting for justice, for the wrongfully hurt, in terms of representing clients, that’s our mission,” he says of the mission of the firm, which has grown to 17 lawyers and over 100 support staff.
Bert’s wife, Marta, has also played a big role in his community, spending time on the Make-A-Wish Foundation Board and raising their four children, one of whom recently expressed interest in the law.
In his clients, the firm’s scholarship awardees and those they help through charity, Bert sees family.
“People walk through the doors or pick up the phone at the worst time in their lives. They’ve lost a parent or a child, and it’s really hard work. It’s really challenging work, and that’s why it’s so fulfilling for us because it’s an extreme challenge,” he says. “We know that we have to be the ones who are the support that they can count on, at least in terms of the legal process.”
At Parnall Law, justice isn’t just a business or a profession — it’s a calling and a commitment. From the walls lined with generations of service, to the firm’s attorneys and team members giving voice for the voiceless, every corner of the firm echoes with purpose and deep roots.
The clients are always the focus of Bert and his team. In the hardest moments, Parnall Law helps turn their pain and loss into lasting justice.
Because when justice is a family tradition, every client becomes the most important part of the story.