Eric Parker, a partner with Romano Parker & Associates in Rocky Hill. Courtesy photo

Many Connecticut early risers know Eric Parker from his duties co-anchoring WFSB-TV's morning news on weekdays from 5 to 7 a.m.

But what many do not know about the popular anchor for the state's CBS affiliate is that he is also a practicing attorney with a wide-ranging practice covering commercial litigation, real estate, personal injury, wrongful death and other claims.

Parker goes to bed by 9 p.m each night before a broadcast, and leaves the station no later than noon for the short drive to the Rocky Hill offices of Romano Parker & Associates, where the Old Lyme resident is a partner.

Parker, 38, always knew he'd be a reporter. He said journalism was his first love and working for WFSB is the dream of a lifetime. He tells of how his mother recently found a school assignment from when Parker was 7 years old. When asked what he wanted to do when he got older, the future anchor answered that he wanted to be working at Channel 3, which is WFSB.

Parker followed his journalism dream. While still in college, he started his first job as a desk assistant for NBC in Washington in 2000. When he graduated from the University of Maryland in 2001, he worked three years for a television station in that state before joining WFSB in 2004. By 2010, he'd become one of the morning anchors.

Growing Law Practice

Parker said he never thought he'd practice law and went to law school at the University of Connecticut School of Law “to be a better reporter.” The 2010 University of Connecticut School of Law graduate, though, said he saw all of his friends graduating and taking the bar exam and knew that if he didn't take it then, he might not want to pursue it down the road. So he took and passed the bar in July 2010.

Parker became an attorney the same year he started anchoring the morning news, and he said he's loving both jobs. He does not see himself slowing down or giving up either profession in the foreseeable future. But, he noted, his law practice is getting busier. While he still fulfills his television duties, Parker went part time at the station in July 2016 to allow him to devote more time to his law practice. Now instead of heading to Romano Parker & Associates every day at noon, he sometimes leaves WFSB at 9 or 10 a.m.

“The practice [keeps] expanding,” Parker said. “I still have the ability to be on TV and do journalism and the things I love, but I still get to come over here and spend six to seven hours a day on the practice.”

Parker, who works with partner Mike Romano, handles transactional real estate, both commercial and residential. He also handles the litigation side of the practice, which covers personal injury and home-improvement fraud to suits arising out of real estate deals.

Parker calls his law practice “a small community law firm” and said he's proud that “people come to us with their problems and we try to solve them.”

While Parker is enjoying the bright lights of television and the rigors of law, he said if push comes to shove a decade or more from now, he'd probably take the legal route.

“I think at some point, I might be forced to make a decision,” he said.

But, Parker emphasized, that's in the future. For now, he plans to report the news in the morning and help law clients in the afternoon.

“There is an adrenaline to live TV,” he said. “But I also like the challenges of practicing law and solving my clients' problems, which is a different way to use my brain.”

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