Parsons Jr. graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota in 1994 and then a Juris Doctor with Sterling honors from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1997.

Following law school, Parsons worked as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Roger Leland Wollman, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

[1] He then went into private practice at Johnson, Janklow, Abdallah, Reiter and Parsons, LLP in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 27, 2017, to be the United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota.

[5] After being U.S. Attorney, Parsons went to work for Sioux Falls law firm Johnson Abdallah Janklow & Reiter LLP.