Willkie Farr & Gallagher
                               One Citicorp Center
                              153 East 53rd Street
                               New York, NY 10022




May 7, 1998


Mueller Industries, Inc.
6799 Great Oaks Road
Suite 200
Memphis, TN  38138

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have  acted as  counsel  to  Mueller  Industries,  Inc.  (the  "Company"),  a
corporation  organized under the laws of the State of Delaware,  with respect to
the Company's Form S-8 Registration Statement (the "Registration  Statement") to
be filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange  Commission on or about
May 11, 1998 in connection  with the  registration  under the  Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the "Act"),  by the Company of 300,000 shares of common stock,
par value $.01 per share (the "Common  Stock")  which are issuable upon exercise
of stock  options  granted or to be granted under the Mueller  Industries,  Inc.
1998 Stock Option Plan (the "Plan").

As counsel for the Company,  we have examined,  among other things, such Federal
and state laws and originals and/or copies (certified or otherwise identified to
our  satisfaction)  of such  documents,  certificates  and  records as we deemed
necessary and appropriate for the purpose of preparing this opinion.

Based on the  foregoing,  we hereby inform you that in our opinion the shares of
Common Stock  issuable upon  exercise of stock options  granted or to be granted
under the Plan have been duly and validly  authorized  for  issuance  and,  when
issued in accordance with the terms of the Plan for  consideration  in excess of
$.01 per share, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the
Registration  Statement.  In giving such consent, we do not hereby admit that we
come within the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of
the Act or the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.





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We are  members  of the Bar of the  State of New York and do not  purport  to be
experts  in the laws of  jurisdictions  other  than the State of New  York,  the
General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware and the Federal laws of the
United States of America.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Willkie Farr & Gallagher



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