Bert and Marta Parnall

Student Success and Access

Long before Bert Parnall enrolled at The University of New Mexico School of Law, its classrooms already felt like home. His father, Theodore “Ted” Parnall, taught there and later served as dean. Bert grew up watching students enter those rooms with ambition and leave prepared to carry the law into courtrooms, businesses, and communities across New Mexico.

Bert followed that path, earning his UNM law degree in 1997. After serving as a senior trial prosecutor, he founded Parnall Law and built a career around helping people navigate some of the hardest moments of their lives. But his family’s relationship with the School of Law did not end at graduation.

To honor his parents, Bert established the Kathryn and Ted Parnall Scholarship, helping future legal professionals meet the cost of an education that can open a lifetime of service. In 2024, Bert and his wife, Marta, named a classroom in Ted’s honor. The room now carries forward more than a name. It carries the memory of a teacher, the gratitude of a son, and the promise of students who will learn there before bringing their knowledge to the people who need it.

The Parnalls chose to turn a family legacy into someone else’s beginning. Be the reason a student enters the room ready to learn and leaves prepared to serve New Mexico.