Hawkins Parnell Expands Equity Partnership in Three States

January 30, 2025 – Press Release

January 30, 2025 (Atlanta, GA) – Hawkins Parnell & Young grew its equity partnership with the additions of Shane Keith in Atlanta, Robert McKinney in West Virginia, and Douglas R. Simek in Dallas.

"Shane, Rob, and Doug are exceptionally strategic and visionary leaders who embody the best of our culture," said Peter York, managing partner of Hawkins Parnell. "They not only know their clients' businesses inside and out, but they are also consummate team players who know what it means to collaborate with different stakeholders and drive high-performing teams in complex litigation."

Keith is a trial lawyer with over two decades of experience representing the world's largest corporations and leaders in the trucking, hospitality, retail, and manufacturing sectors in cases involving catastrophic injuries, fatalities, product liability, and human trafficking. He is among the nation's upper echelon of attorneys defending sex trafficking claims against hotels.

McKinney is the partner-in-charge of Hawkins Parnell's West Virginia office. He defends companies and government entities in high-risk litigation involving product liability, mass torts, premises liability, and toxic exposures. He has extensive experience representing large corporations in the manufacturing, transportation, insurance, and financial sectors across West Virginia and Kentucky.

Simek is partner-in-charge of the firm's Dallas office. He is a trial lawyer with a national practice defending product liability, mass torts, and other high-stakes litigation. He serves as national coordinating counsel to a leading global manufacturer and servicer of overhead lifting equipment and has vast experience in the industrial, automotive, and retail sectors.

About Hawkins Parnell & Young

Hawkins Parnell & Young is a national defense litigation firm that has represented many of the largest and most well-known companies in high-risk litigation and business disputes. The 250-strong litigation team works with clients to develop winning defense strategies and, if necessary, try cases to verdict in all 50 states.