Kim Jones Penepacker

Kim Jones Penepacker leads the litigation team at The Texas Law Dog in Fort Worth, and she brings a credential most injury lawyers never earn: Board Certification in Personal Injury Law. For someone comparing attorneys after a serious wreck or the loss of a family member, that certification is a meaningful filter — it signals verified specialization, not just marketing.

Her results back it up. Texas Lawyer recognized one of her settlements as the second-highest in the entire state for 2017, and Top Verdict credited her with the second-highest wrongful death settlement in Texas for 2024. Recoveries at that level put her in rare company among Fort Worth plaintiff’s attorneys, and they reflect her core approach: hold defendants fully accountable rather than accepting what an insurer first offers, while pushing for changes that prevent the next injury.

Penepacker is also the lawyer other lawyers learn from. She teaches continuing legal education courses on subjects like expert witnesses, evidence rules, smartphone and text-message evidence, and how to value an injury claim quickly and accurately — and the National Business Institute honored her with its 2023 Outstanding Faculty Award for that work. Earlier in her career she collected a string of recognitions, including Rising Star honors from the American Institute of Legal Advocates in 2018 and 2019, back-to-back Top 40 Under 40 selections among Texas personal injury lawyers from the American Academy of Attorneys, and a 10 Best High Verdict and Settlement Winner designation from the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys in 2018.

What comes through most in her story, though, is advocacy beyond her own caseload. After seeing how health insurers treat vulnerable patients, she founded the Denied but Not Defeated Facebook group to guide cancer patients whose insurance claims were rejected, with plans to grow it into a formal nonprofit. She met her husband, Carson, while volunteering at an animal shelter — they now have a son and two dogs — and she supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Living for Zachary Foundation.

Penepacker fits injury victims with high-stakes cases: wrongful death claims, trucking collisions, and serious injuries where the insurance company is fighting hard or has already denied coverage. Consultations are free, and the firm handles cases on contingency, so clients pay nothing unless their case succeeds.