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Lawyer with muscular dystrophy shoots for the stars

By Anna Stolley Persky

August 1, 2024, 1:30 am CDT

Megan Parker was born with Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy. She has a limited range of motion and uses a motorized wheelchair for mobility. She also has a tracheostomy tube in her neck and breathes through a ventilator.

Despite these challenges, Parker persevered through college and law school, graduating with both a JD and an LLM.

She works as an associate in the Cleveland office of Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff. Her workdays vary but tend to include legal research with an emphasis on trademark and copyright issues.

“I love that I am in a respected and esteemed profession, and that I proved that even though I am physically disabled, I’m able to do work that is important and that I enjoy,” says Parker, 25.

She prefers litigation to transactional work because she thrives in “chaos” and gets to collaborate with other attorneys. She says the work is “always changing and evolving.”

Jaclyn Sims, Parker’s mother, drives Parker to and from work, then helps her get set up in the office. Sims is also on hand to assist with medical issues, including when mucus builds up and needs to be cleared.

“Megan likes to joke by saying I am with her to make sure she doesn’t die,” Sims says.

“While I don’t feel like I have to do anything special for Megan to succeed, I am there really to make sure she is physically able to do what she needs or wants, ensure her airway stays clear and help her voice be heard when things are too loud since she is a soft-spoken person.”

Parker grew up in Mohicanville, Ohio, a small town about a 90-minute drive southwest from Cleveland. With one sister and three younger brothers, “it was always a busy household,” she says.

Parker’s muscular dystrophy wasn’t diagnosed until she was 4 or 5, and it wasn’t until she was 12 that a specialist figured out what type she had.

Her condition means that her physical capabilities worsen with time. She tends to experience sudden drops in her physical capabilities and then, typically, a monthslong plateau. Parker also has severe scoliosis, which has resulted in 12 back surgeries. When Parker was 8, she was told she was in respiratory failure. That’s when Parker became, as she puts it, “ventilator dependent.”

Her physical condition meant that she couldn’t play outside like other kids, but she kept herself busy.

“While my siblings were out playing sports and hanging out with friends, I loved reading and writing as a kid,” Parker says.

She also began honing her litigation skills at a young age.

“From the time I was around 3 or 4 years old, people started saying I would make a great attorney because I loved to argue,” Parker says.

In school, however, she had to deal with people who doubted her academic skills because they judged her by her physical disability. Parker says she always maintained a determination that she could accomplish what she wanted, and her mother encouraged her drive.

“I really decided that I wanted to be a lawyer watching the movie Legally Blonde,” Parker says.

She also insisted to her mother that she would go to Harvard Law School, just like Elle Woods, the movie’s lead character, played by Reese Witherspoon.

“I fell in love with the idea of Elle Woods. People doubted her abilities like people doubted mine, and she came out on top.”

But first, Parker had to graduate from the University of Akron, where she studied communications. To attend classes, she either needed to be accompanied by a nurse or a family member, usually her mother or her sister, Nancie.

“Taking Megan to college, honestly, was one of the easiest decisions I ever made because all I wanted in life was to see my kids achieve their goals and dreams,” Sims says.

As Parker approached graduation in 2020, her mother asked if she still wanted to go to law school.

“I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’” Parker says. But the New England Patriots are from Boston—and she is not a fan.

“So I said, ‘But let’s not go to Harvard.’”

During the pandemic, Parker attended the University of Akron School of Law, where she made friends and concentrated on intellectual property. On most days, her mother was by her side. “But,” quips Parker, “she didn’t pay a lick of attention in class.”

Parker served as an associate editor of the Akron Law Review and president of the law school’s Moot Court Honor Society. During her first year, she interviewed for summer positions with a couple of firms in the Akron area, but she felt like they were extremely hesitant about her needing a medical caregiver with her in the office. Then she interviewed at Benesch and “immediately felt at home.”

There are a couple of different sayings Parker likes, depending on how she’s feeling on a particular day. One of her brothers is in the Army, and he often says, “Keep on keeping on,” according to Parker. There are times, Parker says, when she is struggling, and that feels like a good motto for her life.

But there are other days when she is feeling optimistic and excited, and that’s when her motto is: “Keep on keeping on, and shoot for the stars.”

This story was originally published in the August-September 2024 issue of the ABA Journal under the headline: “‘Keep On Keeping On’: Lawyer shoots for the stars—with some assistance.”

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My Path to Law celebrates the diversity of the legal profession through stories detailing attorneys' unique and inspiring careers.