Southeast Asbestos Litigation Conference Speaker Profiles

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Albert (Al) Parnell has spent his entire career preparing, managing, and trying products liability, environmental, and toxic tort cases in multiple states. He is recognized by his peers as one of the nation’s leading asbestos lawyers, a solution provider, and a pioneer in toxic tort and products liability litigation. He has served as lead trial counsel in more than 250 asbestos and toxic tort cases in over 30 states. His clients have received multiple defense verdicts, the last being a directed verdict after two months of trial in July 2009, in Oakland, California. He has served as National Counsel for multiple companies in asbestos, chemical, and MDL cases. He has played a major role in the strategy and negotiation of the settlement of thousands of toxic tort suits, and he has been lead counsel in many landmark asbestos litigation cases. He is responsible for the management of complex litigation cases throughout the nation and has achieved successful outcomes for many Fortune 500 companies.

Al has defended some of the nation’s leading national and multinational corporations throughout his distinguished career. His clients have included Atlantic Richfield Company, BP Amoco, Certainteed Corporation, General Electric Company, Johns Manville, Monsanto, Stouffer Chemical, Union Carbide Corporation, and The United States Gypsum Company.

Al is one of the preeminent law conference speakers in the country. He has delivered more than 200 presentations across the nation and globe for legal organizations, such as the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the American Bar Association (ABA), multiple state bar associations, and distinguished law schools, colleges, and universities. He is the author of numerous articles on products liability and toxic torts, including the breakthrough essay, “Manufacturers of Toxic Substances: Tort Liability and Punitive Damages,” The Forum, American Bar Association, Vol. XVII, No. 4, Spring 1982.

Al is dedicated to the professional development, ethical responsibility, and continuing education of attorneys. He was a founding member of the prestigious DRI Law Institute, and in 1982, he became Chairman of the DRI Law Institutes Committee, where he continues to serve today. He has been instrumental in shaping the scope of continuing education and in designing, attending, and speaking at DRI conferences across the nation. He has served on the Board of Directors of DRI, been President of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association, and received DRI’s national Louis Potter Lifetime Professional Achievement award in 2004. In November of 2009, Al was honored for his thirty years of “noble” and “influential” service to DRI.