G. Michael Parsons is the Founder and Principal of Parsons Law PLLC.
As a practitioner, Michael advises clients who are working to make government more representative, responsive, and responsible. He works with nonprofits, commissions, government officials, candidates, and voters on issues relating to election law, voting rights, and the structure of government.
With a background working in the judicial branch, legislative branch, private practice, legal academy, and reform community, Michael draws on experience from every corner of the legal ecosystem to offer clients unique and unmatched insights into the law of democracy. He has represented merits parties and amici in major constitutional cases involving redistricting, free expression and association, equal protection, separation of powers, emoluments, and ranked choice voting in federal and state court, including the U.S. Supreme Court and several state supreme courts. And he has provided leading election reform organizations with policy guidance, strategic legal advice, legislative drafting assistance, and in-depth analysis of developments in state and federal legislation, election litigation, judicial doctrines, and emerging scholarship.
As a scholar, Michael studies political representation and how the law shapes, supports, and subverts fair representation, especially in the areas of federalism, the separation of powers, and the law of democracy. He is especially interested in topics pertaining to redistricting, election administration, judicial reform, and money in politics, and he is one of the nation’s leading authorities on the law surrounding ranked choice voting and alternative methods of representation.
Michael’s scholarship has been published in journals such as the California Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, and University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, and his commentary has been published on the Harvard Law Review Blog, Election Law Blog, Take Care Blog, Democracy Docket, and in various popular media outlets. His work has been cited in federal and state court opinions and his proposals have been incorporated into legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Prior to founding Parsons Law, Michael served as a Program Affiliate Scholar (2021-2023), the Associate Director of Lawyering (2020-2021), and as an Acting Assistant Professor (2018-2021) at NYU School of Law, where he received the Podell Distinguished Teaching Award. Michael also practiced political, appellate, and antitrust law at two major international law firms and clerked for the Honorable Norman H. Stahl of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Honorable Robert E. Payne of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He received his JD, magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center, and his AB, cum laude, from Davidson College.
