Shurtleff, Parker said, has caused a lot of harm to the FLDS community by promulgating stereotypes and prejudice with public statements he can't back up.

"He's done that on the basis of having listened to some dissidents and people who are selling books," Parker said.

One of them is Carolyn Jessop, a former plural wife of YFZ Ranch leader Merrill Jessop. She came to know Parker when her former husband retained him in a contentious child custody fight.

"I don't know how he sleeps at night with his conscience," said the author of the New York Times best-seller "Escaped," who ultimately won custody of her eight children.

"I think the guy is an absolute slime bucket who knows full well women and children are being abused and gets out there and backs the perpetrator."

For his part, Parker said lawyers have an ethical obligation to zealously defend their clients, polygamists included.

"I do think they deserve representation," he said. "I think they get a raw deal a lot of the time."

Parker also acted as counsel for ousted polygamous Hildale judge Walter Steed and former Hildale police officer Rodney Holm, who was convicted of bigamy.

Though his legal work for the church goes back more than 15 years, he wasn't actively representing it when the Texas Department of Child Protective Services raided the YFZ Ranch in April.

Parker and the church parted ways about three years ago because it decided not to contest two lawsuits — one by the so-called "Lost Boys" who were kicked out of community and a sexual abuse claim by now-jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs' nephew, Brent Jeffs. Parker believed the suits were defensible. Both were settled out of court last year.

Still, when FLDS Church elder Willie Jessop called asking for help in Eldorado, Parker dropped everything.

"They really needed help. It was the kind of call you cannot say 'no' to," he said.

Parker didn't do much lawyering during the several weeks he spent in Texas. Rather, he assumed the role of public spokesman for the church. Though he has dealt with the reporters on FLDS issues over the years, he wasn't prepared for the media horde that descended on the ranch. He learned to deal with it on the fly. The only image-conscious decision he made beforehand was to not wear a tie.

"I didn't want to look too lawyer-ish," he said.

His lack of neckwear likely didn't make much difference in the public perception of the FLDS Church in light of the Texas raid. But his urging church members to be more open with the press, particularly allowing reporters on the ranch to interview distraught mothers, did. The move changed the tone of the evolving story from largely hostile to more sympathetic.