Stephen P. Parsons has been licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee for more than 40 years. He was a partner in the Stophel, Caldwell and Heggie law firm in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and later in the Wagner, Myers & Sanger firm in Knoxville, Tennessee, specializing in commercial law and tort litigation. Thereafter, he was the principal in The Parsons Law Firm in Greeneville, Tennessee. From 2006 to 2015, he was a professor of law at Appalachian School of Law in Buchanan County, Virginia, where he taught Evidence, Contracts, Sales, Debtor-Creditor Law, Civil Trial Practice, and Appellate Advocacy. He retired from the school of law in 2015 as Associate Professor of Law Emeritus. Prior to service at the school of law, he was active in paralegal education, having served as the initial program director for the Paralegal Studies Program at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee, where he was a tenured professor and chair of the Legal Studies Department.

Parsons received his B.A. degree from David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a double major in Speech and Religion. He received his J.D. from The University of Tennessee College of Law, finishing first in his graduating class and was selected for inclusion in the Order of the Coif. While a law student, Parsons received book awards for achieving the high grade in five different courses: Torts, Evidence, Corporations, Administrative Law, and Bills & Notes. He also won the Advocates Prize Moot Court competition as a law student and was named Best Oralist in the competition.

In addition to Interviewing and Investigating: Essential Skills for the Legal Profession, now in its eighth edition, Professor Parsons is the author of The ABC’s of Debt: A Case Study Approach to Debtor-Creditor Relations and Bankruptcy Law, now in its sixth edition. He is also the author of Consumer Bankruptcy Law and co-author of Business Bankruptcy, both titles in the Aspen Publishing Focus Casebook Series.