A half-century is an eternity in the volatile world of personal injury law, where firms rise and fall on the backs of flashy advertising and quick settlements, often crumbling under the weight of the very institutions they challenge. Yet in 1978, long before the age of digital marketing, two attorneys in Utah sealed a partnership with nothing more than a handshake, building a firm not on a promise of wealth, but on a fierce, uncompromising commitment to the vulnerable. Today, that firm Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers stands as a titan of trial advocacy across six states, a testament to the enduring power of principle over profit.
Leading the firm into its next chapter is Steven K. Jensen, a trial lawyer and Managing Partner who carries the gravity of the firm’s work with a calm, steely resolve. Alongside his partner Brian C. Stewart, Jensen has stewarded a legacy defined by record-breaking verdicts and systemic change. “Nearly five decades after that original handshake, Parker & McConkie operates across eight offices in six states, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona, and continues to take on the cases that matter most,” Jensen affirms, encapsulating a journey that has moved from a local practice to a national force for justice.
The Handshake That Built a Legal Powerhouse
Every enduring institution begins with a moment of conviction, and for Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers, that moment came in 1978, not in a boardroom, not with a contract, but with a handshake between two attorneys who believed the vulnerable deserved a champion. Bradley H. Parker and James W. McConkie II founded the firm on a simple premise: take on the difficult cases that make a real difference, to the individuals affected and the whole community, with a shared commitment to each other and to the people they would serve.
Jim McConkie brought an extraordinary public service pedigree to that handshake—Chief of Staff to the U.S. Congressman, Assistant United States Attorney, and adjunct professor of constitutional law–while Brad Parker came from a family of lawyers and understood from childhood that good attorneys must be problem-solvers, not just legal technicians, but genuine advocates who meet people in their darkest hours. Together, they built something rare: a firm that measured success not by case volume but by impact, where cases too difficult, too unpopular, or too unlikely to yield a quick settlement became the specialty. Their philosophy was simple: if the helpless and vulnerable needed a champion, Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers would be that champion.
Landmark Victories, Profound Loss, and a Legacy Carried Forward
The key moments that shaped the firm’s journey are written in verdicts and precedents. The firm obtained the largest wrongful death judgment in Utah history. In 2020, it secured a record $13.5 million settlement against the University of Utah for the family of Lauren McCluskey, a 21-year-old student-athlete whose repeated cries for help were ignored by campus police before she was murdered.
In 2023, the firm reached a landmark $5 million settlement for the family of Zhifan Dong, another University of Utah student whose death reflected another institutional failure. That same year, Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers achieved the largest personal injury settlement ever paid by Salt Lake County for a young woman who died on a jail cell floor while guards watched and did nothing.
- Each case was more than a monetary recovery. They were systemic reckonings that forced powerful institutions to confront their failures.
- Every verdict reinforced the firm’s reputation for taking on the cases others deemed unwinnable.
On June 6, 2023, the firm suffered a profound loss. Brad Parker, a brilliant lawyer and tireless advocate, passed away, leaving an indelible mark on clients, colleagues, and the Utah legal community. When Brian C. Stewart and Steven Jensen assumed leadership, their mandate was clear: honor everything Brad and Jim built, and carry it forward with the same fearlessness.
- Brad Parker’s legacy endures in the firm’s DNA in every case accepted, every strategy built, and every client served.
- The leadership transition was not a departure from the founding vision, but a recommitment to it.
Nearly five decades after that original handshake, Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers operates across eight offices in six states, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, still taking on the cases that matter most, the handshake that started it all remaining unbroken
Outgunned but Unbowed Through Preparation and Restraint
Every personal injury firm faces the same fundamental challenge: the plaintiff is almost always outgunned by insurance companies with unlimited resources, armies of defense attorneys, and every incentive to delay, minimize, and deny. For Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers, committed to quality over quantity from day one, that constant pressure was met through preparation bordering on obsession. Jim McConkie and Brad Parker recognized early that most cases are won or lost during discovery, so they built a firm that prepares from day one, assembling expert witnesses, accident reconstruction specialists, and medical professionals’ resources that ordinary families could never access and putting them to work on contingency, so clients could focus on recovery.
When Brian C. Stewart and Steven Jensen assumed leadership, they faced a different challenge: scaling a high-touch, quality-driven practice without diluting its commitment to excellence and individual client attention. The answer was deliberate restraint, limiting the caseload to go deeper on each case. It was a counterintuitive decision in an industry that rewards volume, but the right one for clients and for the firm’s reputation, and the results achieved flow directly from that commitment to depth over volume.
Three Principles That Define a Culture
At Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers, everything flows from one unwavering principle: the client’s interest, always and above the firm’s own. These are the three core values that shape every decision the firm makes.
- The Client Is the Mission, Not a Case File: Being a fiduciary is not a slogan; it is a legal and moral standard that places the client’s interest above fee agreements, efficiency, or convenience, demanding complete transparency, no false reassurance, and treating clients as empowered partners rather than bystanders in their own case.
- Justice Cannot Be Conditional: Some cases offer no prospect of a large financial recovery, yet they are taken anyway, because fairness and accountability matter independent of dollar value, and the cases nobody else will touch are often the ones that matter most.
- Shortcuts Are Not an Option: No shortcuts are taken in preparation, discovery, or resources, because when a family entrusts their worst moment, they get everything there is no other way.
The Three Pillars That Set Parker & McConkie Apart
What separates the firm from nearly every other personal injury firm in the country comes down to three defining commitments that together create an unassailable competitive advantage.
- Willingness to Take on Powerful Institutions: The firm has sued and defeated universities, police departments, county governments, and the federal government, earning a reputation that guarantees opposing counsel knows the firm will never be outworked, outspent, or outlasted.
- Trial-Ready from Day One: The firm prepares for trial from day one, because insurers only pay fair value to firms they know will actually try the case, and the firm has proven repeatedly that it will.
- A Client-First Culture That Is Structural, Not Aspirational: By limiting its caseload, the firm ensures senior counsel personally handles every case, giving clients direct attorney access from the first call, a practice that makes client-first culture a daily reality, not a wall-mounted slogan.
The Parker & McConkie Methodology
The firm’s approach begins before a case is accepted, with one question: Can we make a meaningful difference in this person’s life? If yes, it commits fully; if not, it refers the client elsewhere. Once in, it immediately deploys accident reconstruction specialists, medical professionals, and economists to project lifetime care costs and lost earning capacity, defining the facts first through meticulous investigation and evidence preservation rather than waiting for the other side to shape the narrative.
Every negotiation begins from a position of genuine trial readiness. Demand letters are jury-ready work products, not posturing because insurers pay fair value only to firms they know are prepared. Clients remain close partners throughout, making better decisions when informed, while the firm gains a deeper understanding of the shattered life behind every case file, which is what truly drives the fight.
The Case That Defines the Mission
Every law firm has cases it points to as victories, but for Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers, one story defines what the work truly means. A mother driving her nine-year-old daughter to school was rear-ended by a semitruck so violently that it broke the car seat, hurling her into her daughter’s head and leaving the little girl with a lifelong traumatic brain injury. Their existing attorney wanted to settle quickly, but the insurance offer would have covered only medical bills and his fee, leaving almost nothing for the child’s future, her care, or her quality of life.
The family came to Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers, and the firm went deep. General Motors was identified as the vehicle’s producer, and the case was pursued with the full weight of the firm’s resources. The ultimate recovery was significantly more than the original settlement offered, enough to ensure that the little girl would have the resources she needed for the rest of her life. For the firm, this case crystallizes what the work truly means. Not the verdict. Life.
Where Honesty and Humanity Lead
For Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers, a client-first approach in emotionally devastating personal injury cases begins with one uncompromising value: honesty. The firm’s first responsibility to every client is to tell the truth, including the difficult truths, discussing realistic outcomes, potential pitfalls, and scenarios where the fight may be harder than hoped. False reassurance is never offered because false reassurance is, at its core, a form of disrespect, and people facing the worst chapter of their lives deserve something far more valuable than empty comfort.
The firm pairs honesty with genuine human connection, understanding that clients often worry less about the legal case and more about paying the mortgage, accessing medical care, or holding their family together during recovery. These concerns are addressed directly because a financially panicked and emotionally overwhelmed client cannot be a full partner in their own case. The cases involving children stay the longest, knowing these young ones carry injuries for life, and securing a good result for them is the difference between a livable future and one far more difficult, a responsibility that never feels routine, nor should it.
Technology in Service of Justice, Not in Place of It
Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers has always adopted technology that serves its clients, using advanced case management platforms to give every team member real-time visibility into case status and deadlines so nothing slips through. During investigation, the best tools for evidence analysis, accident reconstruction, and medical record review are deployed because firms that invest in technology during discovery build stronger cases and achieve better outcomes.
The firm is also incorporating AI-assisted legal research tools that allow attorneys to move faster and more comprehensively through case law and regulatory frameworks, though the goal is never to replace attorney judgment. It is to give attorneys more time to focus on what technology cannot replicate: strategy, advocacy, and the human relationship with each client. Because behind every piece of evidence and every legal argument is a person whose life has been upended, and that connection cannot be automated.
Shaping the Law, Not Just Practicing It
Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers was never content to simply practice law within the existing system, the firm was built to change, a philosophy Jim McConkie and Brad Parker embedded into its DNA from the very beginning. Their appellate victories reshaped Utah law in lasting ways: a 2012 precedent-setting win required automobile insurers to provide clear explanations of underinsured motorist benefits before obtaining waivers, and a 2018 appeal against a nursing facility established important liability standards around the failure to report a nurse’s fatal medication error. Beyond the courtroom, the firm extends its mission through community leadership.
The Refugee Justice League, co-founded by Jim McConkie and now mobilizing over 800 attorneys, delivers pro bono legal aid to refugees facing discrimination, directly reflecting the firm’s mission to champion the vulnerable. Meanwhile, the Lauren McCluskey Foundation, born from the landmark 2020 case, transforms a family’s tragedy into a nationwide movement for campus safety reform. Firm leaders further this legacy through education: Steven Jensen is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2025, and Brian C. Stewart has taught at Westminster College and the University of Utah. For the firm, the responsibility to educate is as vital as the duty to litigate.
Authority Forged Through Landmark Results
The authority and credibility of Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers have been forged over nearly five decades, not through marketing campaigns but through landmark victories, professional recognition, and a relentless commitment to justice.
- Largest wrongful death judgment in Utah history: secured by James W. McConkie II.
- $52 million wrongful death verdict: obtained by Jim McConkie.
- $13.5 million settlement (2020): a record wrongful death settlement in Utah, secured against the University of Utah for the family of Lauren McCluskey.
- Largest personal injury settlement ever paid by Salt Lake County (2023): achieved justice for a young woman who died on a jail cell floor while guards watched and did nothing.
- Utah State Bar “Lawyer of the Year” (2020): awarded to James W. McConkie II.
- The Best Lawyers in America® 2025: Steven K. Jensen recognized for Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs.
- 10 Best Attorneys in Utah (2018): Steven Jensen was named by the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys.
- America’s Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys: Brian C. Stewart is recognized among the nation’s leading litigators.
- National media features: covered by CNN, NBC, Fox News, Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, ESPN, Rolling Stone, Attorney at Law Magazine, and USA Today.
- Refugee Justice League: co-founded by Jim McConkie and Brad Parker, an 800+ attorney coalition providing pro bono legal assistance to refugees facing discrimination.
Trust Built Over 50 Years, One Conversation at a Time
For Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers, trust begins at the very first phone call, where expectations are set honestly, communication remains proactive, and no client is ever left wondering where their case stands. Clients receive direct access to senior attorneys, not just paralegals or case managers, because they are partners in their own case, and being a partner means always being informed rather than left in the dark.
Ethically, the firm holds itself to a high standard of client-first representation, preferring to decline a case than accept one where it cannot serve the client’s genuine long-term interest. Fee structures are discussed transparently, the contingency model is explained clearly, and financial incentives are never permitted to drive a recommendation that is not in the client’s best interest. A reputation built over nearly 50 years depends entirely on that integrity, and it is guarded with every decision made and every relationship formed.
The Numbers Behind the Parker & McConkie
| Metric | Data Point |
| Year Founded | 1978 |
| Years in Practice | Nearly 50 years |
| Office Locations | 8 offices across Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and Arizona |
| States Served | Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Arizona, Oregon |
| Combined Attorney Experience | 100+ years |
| Attorney Network (Refugee Justice League) | 800+ attorneys |
| Funds Recovered for Clients | Hundreds of millions of dollars |
| Largest Single Settlement | $13.5M (Lauren McCluskey / U of Utah, 2020) |
| Largest Wrongful Death Verdict | Largest in Utah history |
| Largest Salt Lake County PI Settlement | Achieved in 2023 |
| Current Active High-Profile Cases | Petito v. Moab Police (Utah Supreme Court); $56M CECOT federal claim |
| National Media Appearances | CNN, New York Times, Fox News, 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, Court TV, Washington Post, Forbes, Rolling Stone, ESPN, and more |
| Contingency Fee Model | No fee unless we win |
The Question That Builds Leaders Who Last
The advice from Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers’ nearly five-decade journey is as practical as it is principled: build your business around a question, not a product. The question: Can we make a meaningful difference in this person’s life? remains as urgent today as in 1978. Anchoring every decision, case, hire, and resource to that question creates something lasting because firms built on revenue metrics alone eventually hollow out, while those built on genuine impact compound value over time, reputation being the only sustainable advantage in a service business.
Equally critical is the courage to take cases nobody else will touch, to go where others will not, and to fight when odds are stacked against you, which separates firms that matter from those that merely exist. Finally, hire people whose values are indistinguishable from your own. Brian C. Stewart and Steven Jensen built this chapter because they shared the same answer to that foundational question, and the culture, results, and trust clients place in the firm all flow from that alignment. When values align, everything follows.
Previous Media Features and Published Sources
The work and leadership of Parker & McConkie have been extensively covered across national and regional media, reflecting the firm’s sustained relevance in legal and public discourse.
- Attorney at Law Magazine: “Brian Stewart & Steven Jensen Taking up the Mantle of Parker + McConkie” (2025), chronicling the leadership transition and the firm’s next chapter.
- USA Today: Featured how Parker & McConkie grows its business while helping clients (July 2024).
- Salt Lake Tribune: Covered the Gabby Petito family’s $50M claim against Moab Police (August 2022).
- Deseret News: Multiple features on the Petito, Dong, and McCluskey cases, as well as the CECOT lawsuit (2022–2026).
- KSL News: Reported on the firm’s $56M suit on behalf of a Venezuelan man sent to a Salvadoran prison (March 2026).
- The American Reporter: “Top Law Firm Parker & McConkie Devotes Legal Practice to Helping Injured Individuals and Families” (February 2025).
- Los Angeles Tribune: “Leading Law Firm Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers Champions Individuals and Families” (February 2025).
- AccessNewswire / Newswire: “Parker & McConkie, Leaders in Law” (December 2024).
- America’s Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys: Brian C. Stewart profile featured among the nation’s leading litigators.
Key Takeaways:
- Building around a question, not a product reputation, is the only sustainable advantage.
- Take the cases others refuse; that’s what separates firms that matter from those that merely exist.
- Hire people whose values mirror your own culture, results, and trust flow from alignment.
- Prepare for trial from day one; insurers pay fair value only to firms ready to fight.
- Never offer false reassurance; honesty is the highest form of respect for a client.
- Limiting your caseload to deliberate, deeper restraint builds stronger cases and lasting impact.
