PACKARD LAW FIRM - Key Persons
My father, Bernie, has always been the kind of man his children wanted to emulate. In fact, between his children and their spouses, 11 have become attorneys. (He also has two sons who are doctors.) Many times, life gave Bernie every reason to quit, but he never did. He once told me, "If I had one ace in life, it was this: Every time life punched me in the mouth, I decided to get back up." Bernie is a living example of what can happen when we approach life's disappointments with optimism and grit.
Bernie was born on a farm during the great depression. Life on the farm was already hard, but it became even harder when his father became a Japanese prisoner of war for almost all of World War II. The family worked night and day to make a living. Finally, Bernie's father returned from the war, but a few years later, a plane carrying both of his parents crashed, completely disabling his father and killing his mother. It was a dark, lonely time for Bernie, but his reaction to this tragedy set the tone for the rest of his life. He promised himself that "he would become a good one."
He picked himself back up and started to attack life with determination and hope. He finished high school, married Sarah Hayes, graduated from law school, and raised 13 children. Life seemed to be going perfectly when tragedy struck again. A leaky gas line caused our home to erupt into flames, and his eight-year-old daughter, Rachelle, perished. Although the pain and despair were almost suffocating, Bernie and Sarah resolved that they would not let their child's death consume the rest of their family. They showed us how perseverance combined with a resolve to stay motivated always triumphs over life's challenges. The years passed, and things seemed to improve.
Then, tragedy struck again. Bernie's wife, Sarah, contracted Lou Gehrig's disease, and she was given less than two years to live. Rather than quitting and waiting to die, Bernie and Sarah decided to live. They toured the Holy Land, where the savior carried his cross, and they took the family to the east coast for one final family vacation. At home, they cherished every moment they had together. As the end approached, Bernie personally cared for Sarah's every need. He wanted to do it himself, and she died at home in his arms, surrounded by her children. Heartbroken, Bernie refused to let Sarah's death tear the family apart. When one child felt especially troubled, Bernie said: "I have lost my wife, and you have lost your mother. I will not lose my family." Bernie remarried Nancy Howell, and his family and business flourished. Bernie kept his promise to "become a good one."
Today, Dad's life has profoundly influenced the way we approach adversity. Dad didn't just talk about getting back up, he lived it - over and over again. Through him, we learned that our choices, not our circumstances, define who we are, what we can do, and who we can become.
Biography:
Brent is Dan and Alison Packard's oldest child. Growing up, Brent appreciated the law by watching his parents' legal careers develop. He observed how the law can be a powerful tool to protect and serve others. These years of observation and appreciation ignited a fire within him to follow in his parent's footsteps and pursue a legal career.
Brent spent his high school years participating in various activities such as sports, choir, and foreign exchange trips. After graduating high school, Brent served a 24-month church mission in Antofagasta, Chile. He loved the people, became fluent in Spanish, and developed an appreciation for different cultures.
After his church mission, Brent continued his education at Brigham Young University. There, he found the love of his life, Kati Anne Packard. After his time at Brigham Young University, Brent moved to San Antonio and attended Saint Mary's University School of Law. He excelled both in law school and on the Texas Bar Exam. His legal career has been a childhood dream come true, and he loves helping his clients obtain justice.
Brent and Kati Anne live in San Antonio with their two beautiful children. Brent spends most of his time outside work with his family and his church. In his spare time, he loves traveling and playing basketball.
Practice Areas:
Auto/18-Wheeler Accident
Biography:
Brooke is a passionate and enthusiastic attorney who loves ponies, black coffee, and really tall trees. She is a born and raised Texan from Brazoria County. She attended Texas State University and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in Shakespeare. She earned her Juris Doctorate at the University of Houston in 2015.
Growing up, Brooke always wanted to be a cowgirl, and she still has aspirations of doing so one day. She is a big animal lover. She has three horses, Mazzy the Wonder Horse, Joe the New Horse, and Warden the… other horse. They are competitive treat-eaters and endurance nappers. She also has a black cat named Slinky, who spends all of her time imitating a tiny house panther, biting strangers, and destroying furniture.
Brooke joined the Packard team as a Social Security Disability hearing attorney in May 2018. She loves her job and enjoys spending time getting to know each of her clients that she represents. Her favorite thing about being a part of the Packard team is the incredible support she has from the partners and the staff.
We are excited to have Brooke on our team and watch her excel as an attorney and a unique contributor to our company culture.
Practice Areas:
Social Security Disability
Education:
University of Houston College of Law, Houston, Texas
Juris Doctorate - 2015
Texas State University
B.A., Bachelor of Arts
Biography:
Dan grew up in a large family in rural southeast Texas. As a child, his mother allowed him to skip school so he could watch his father try cases on juries. Every time he watched his father's work, Dan became captivated by the drama of the courtroom, but even more, he was deeply impressed by the real-life impact these cases had on ordinary people. Who will be awarded custody of the kids? Will Dad succeed in helping this injured worker receive the money to put food on the table and pay the doctor's bills? Even as a 10-year-old boy, Dan realized that the law could be used as a tool of compassion and could protect ordinary people from being victimized by powerful forces. Thus, before he reached high school, Dan promised himself that he would prepare in every way he could so that, one day, he could speak for individuals and families who might not otherwise have a voice in court. And Dan did just that!
In high school, Dan enjoyed singing in a garage band and playing basketball. However, Dan saved his best efforts for the debate team. He became a champion debater and eventually went to college on a debate scholarship. After college, Dan attended law school and graduated with academic honors. However, his real passion in law school was moot court, where he became the school's first-ever regional moot court champion. While in law school, Dan also met his beautiful and brilliant classmate, Alison McBride, who became the love of his life. Dan and Alison attended their law classes together, married during their second year, and graduated on the same day.
After law school, Dan immediately started representing people who had been injured, discriminated against, wrongfully terminated, or cheated by large corporations. He soon became an accomplished trial lawyer, taking a critical role in cases with national significance-cases that settled for hundreds of millions of dollars and were reported in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Dan was certified as a specialist in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and later served as a guest lecturer at various legal seminars, including two at Harvard Law School.
Even though Dan has successfully argued several high-profile cases, he has never forgotten his roots or why he became a lawyer in the first place. For Dan, practicing law is a calling, not a job. Dan still loves helping ordinary people with real problems, he still represents folks injured in a car wreck, and he still personally takes the time to sit down and visit with each client. Dan especially loves going to trial when an insurance company won't make a fair offer. He still enjoys singing and playing basketball with his brothers, and, of course, he still loves spending time with Alison and their four children.
Practice Areas:
Personal Injury
Biography:
David B. Packard was born on November 18, 1966, in Houston, Texas. As a young child, David spent his days playing with his brothers and doing chores on the 32-AC small family farm. When he reached high school, he started to come into his own. He was a good musician, playing the first chair in the trumpet section and composing the senior class song, which was sung at graduation. He was the senior class president and earned his Eagle Scout award. He also joined the debate team and partnered with his brother Dan, where "the Packard debaters" became known as "the team to beat." (Thirty years later, David and Dan are still together.)
After high school, David lived in Argentina for two years. While living in South America, he learned to love the people, the culture, and the Spanish language. He is fluent in Spanish and speaks the language every day here in San Antonio.
David excelled in college, where he studied economics. There, he dated and eventually married his lifetime sweetheart, Emmeline Espiritu. David and his wife Emmeline would later go on to have six children. The youngest two children live at home and attend school in San Antonio. During his time in college, David also gained valuable experience working for a computer company, where he built hundreds of custom-made computers for local businesses.
After graduating from college, David went on to law school, where he became fascinated with the law and how an attorney could design intelligent computer systems to help analyze and process legal issues. David believed that, with the best tools, a lawyer could focus less on generating the paperwork and more on the people he represented. Remarkably, while David was still a law student, he created a ground-breaking computer program that he would later use to file literally thousands of cases on behalf of his own clients.
Although David has found his work as a lawyer intellectually rewarding, he has found practicing law most rewarding when he can help someone who cannot effectively deal with the legal system without meaningful help.
Practice Areas:
Accident and Injury Law
Mom's philosophy on life was beautifully simple. She felt that all of her time, talents, energies, and money really belonged to God. Thus, she felt obligated and driven to find a thousand quality ways to give. Mom cared deeply about excellence. For example, she was the valedictorian in high school, the first chair all-state band, and a finalist in the Miss Texas pageant. For her, achieving excellence placed her in a position to do more good.
Mom had a heart as big as Texas. It truly seemed that there was no end to her capacity to love. For starters, she and Bernie had 13 children together, all of them in single births. Even though she had an unbelievable load of caring for her own children, she opened her home to all kinds of other people. For example, she did not want her great aunt (who had no children of her own) to live her final years in a nursing home; so even though there were 14 of us living in the home at the time, Mom opened her doors and cared for Aunt Grace until her death.
From 1982 to 1992, Mom also took in more than a dozen other children. These children usually had dysfunctional situations in their home life, so Mom let these kids live and grow up with her own children - until things stabilized at the child's home. Some stayed only for a few weeks, but others stayed for years. There was never any financial compensation for any of this; Mom did it because that was the kind of person she was.
Although she was a source of blessings to all kinds of people, Mom saved her best energies for her children. Day and night, she was helping with homework, sewing dresses, cooking large meals, giving music lessons, or just talking to her children. Mom was not overly preachy, but she had an authentic spirituality that inspired all of us fundamentally and profoundly.
When Mom was 50 years old, she was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease - a dreaded and fatal condition. At the time, five children were still in school and living at home, with the youngest only 9 years old. Most of the other children were still in college. It was a devastating blow, but Mom faced death with the same faith and compassion she demonstrated when she was healthy and vibrant. To her last breath, she was looking for ways to encourage, lift and build others - especially her children. She died in her home, with her beloved husband, Bernie, and all of her children surrounding her bedside.
If you ask any of her children, they will all say that they have never been able to match their mother's passion, energy, and faith. But none of us has ever forgotten it either. Mom is still a part of everything we do, and we hope that our lives are, in some small way, a tribute to the remarkable life she lived.