R. Rex Parris

In 2021, he obtained a $120 million verdict in a traffic accident case.

PARRIS Law Firm, together with Panish, Shea & Boyle and other plaintiffs’ counsel, represented the residents of Porter Ranch, CA, following the Aliso Canyon gas leak. In 2021, Southern California Gas Company and its parent company Sempra Energy settled for $1.8 billion.

Supported by a unanimous 2021 vote by the City Council, Parris led efforts to start a public health agency specifically for Lancaster. These efforts came after a vote of no confidence was issued against the LA County Department of Public Health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Donald Trump visited the city of Lancaster on February 18, 2020, accompanied by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Parris met with Trump, and described him as "incredibly charming" and having a "magnetic personality". After the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Parris reflected on the experience, describing himself as being "horrified" and his view of the Capitol as "almost sacrosanct."

Parris purchased a home previously owned by Lee Iacocca in Laguna Beach, California in April 2020 for $6.6 million.

Parris is a frequent keynote speaker on climate change at conferences throughout the world. The United States Environmental Protection Agency the city of Lancaster in 2019 with its Greenpower Leadership Award.

Since his election, Parris has taken steps to make Lancaster a "Net Zero City." In 2015, Lancaster became the first city in the world to generate more clean energy than it consumes and require all new housing to be net zero.

In 2014, Parris and his wife Carrol established the Parris Institute for Professional Excellence at Pepperdine University with a gift of $2.2 million.

As mayor, Parris in 2010 launched an economic development division that attracted manufacturing company BYD (makers of electric buses and advanced battery technology).

In July 2010, the City of Lancaster partnered with SolarCity to launch the Solar Lancaster program, a solar financing program for homeowners, business owners and nonprofit organizations. In 2015, Parris and the City of Lancaster launched Lancaster Choice Energy, a nonprofit locally-run energy company for Lancaster businesses and residents.

In 2009, Parris was lead counsel in obtaining a $370 million jury verdict against Georges Marciano, founder of Guess.

R. Rex Parris was first elected mayor of Lancaster, California in April 2008. He was subsequently re-elected in April 2010, 2012, 2016, and 2020. In 2020, Parris won a fifth term as mayor with 69 percent of the vote.

Parris is married to his wife Carrol, with whom he has four children. They have six grandchildren. Two of their sons, Khail and Rutger, continue to work at PARRIS Law Firm. Parris’ brother, Robert Parris, a former CHP officer, has been an attorney with the firm since 1992.

In 1985, R. Rex Parris founded the PARRIS Law Firm with his wife Carrol in Lancaster, California. Today the firm's practice covers most areas of personal injury law, including car accidents, workplace injuries, premises liability. It also handles toxic torts, environmental law and employment class actions.

Parris attended Antelope Valley College before eventually transferring to the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he was accepted into the Scholar's Program and majored in Law & Society. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor from Southwestern School of Law in 1980.

He has been a member of the California State Bar since 1980.

Raymond "Rex" Parris Jr., the third of four boys, was born in 1952 to Raymond Parris and Jeanne Powers in Palmdale, CA. His parents separated in 1963 after Raymond lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. Finding his mother's income as a waitress to be insufficient, Rex Parris began working at age 14 while still in school. He left high school in 10th grade to work full-time as a busboy.