He then studied law at the University of Adelaide, serving his articles with George Ash[2] and graduating in March 1897, aged 24.

in partnership in 1898;[2] they were joined in October 1908 by George McEwin and subsequently by (later Sir) Mellis Napier.

On occasions, Parsons acted as Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia and, after his father's death, in 1904 he became consul for Japan.

[7] He retired in 1945 and, having "spent many hours at the Adelaide Club, preferring its convivial atmosphere to his wife's Methodism".

Mary Elsie Parsons served with distinction as Mayoress at official functions for her widowed brother Sir John Lavington Bonython in 1911 and 1912.