Denise Henning

Denise Henning represents plaintiffs who have been victims of personal injury, wrongful death, medical malpractice and transportation-related injuries.

Denise Henning has a proven track record including an $8 million wrongful death verdict, a $6 million arbitration award, and numerous six, seven and eight figure settlements. Denise began her legal career clerking for the Honorable Patricia Breckenridge at the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. She then entered private practice and devoted her practice exclusively to trials of civil cases, where she has consistently won verdicts and negotiated settlements for victims of personal tragedies.

Denise Henning graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois School of Law (J.D., 1992) and summa cum laude from Doane College (B.A., 1988). She is a member of the Missouri Bar and the Kansas Bar. Denise was the president of the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City in 2003. She serves on the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys Board of Governors and is a past chair of the Missouri Bar's Tort Law Committee. She is the immediate past chairperson of the Federal Practice Committee of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Denise also serves on the 16th Circuit Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee and is a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association's Strategic Vision Committee. Denise is a Master in the KCMBA Inn of Court program. Denise is a founding member and president of the Association for Women Lawyers Foundation.

Denise was chosen as one of five "Up and Coming Lawyers" by Missouri Lawyers Weekly in 1999. The Missouri Bar Foundation awarded Denise the Lon O. Hocker Award in 2002, which is given in recognition of outstanding trial skills. Denise was awarded the Thomas J. Conway Trial Lawyer Award in 2006 which recognizes excellence in trial and professionalism. The Kansas City Business Journal has named Denise "Best of the Bar" in Kansas City since 2002. Denise is the only woman lawyer who has been named "Best of the Bar" for all ten years that the award has been given. Denise was recognized with the Women Who Mean Business Award in 2003, an award given annually to twenty-five women in Kansas City. The Association for Women Lawyers gave Denise its "Woman of the Year" award in 2004.

Denise was named a "Legal Leader" by the Daily Record in 2006. Super Lawyers named Denise one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Missouri and Kansas, and one of the Top 50 Attorneys in Kansas City. Denise was awarded the Women's Justice Trial Practitioner Award and selected as the Solo Practitioner of the year by the KCMBA in 2010.

Denise has a long history of success in the legal profession. In 2009, she negotiated a $2,375 million settlement for the family of a young woman killed in a semi-truck collision. In 2008, Denise negotiated an eight figure confidential settlement for the victims of a semi-truck collision on I-70 that resulted in serious and life-threatening injuries to three of her clients and the deaths of four others. Denise also achieved a $2 million settlement five days before trial for the family of a bicyclist who died when a concrete truck ran over him on a downtown Kansas City street.

In 2007, Denise negotiated a $2.25 million settlement for the mother of a young man who was working on constructing the Triumph Foods plant in St. Joseph, Missouri when an explosion occurred resulting in his death. She also won a $6 million arbitration award for the family of a physician who was killed while trying to render aid to a motorist involved in another accident. In 2006, Denise negotiated a $1.6 million settlement for the victims of a head-on car crash on I-70 involving life-threatening injuries to a passenger who was ejected from the vehicle.

In March 2005, Denise won an $8 million verdict against a California trucking company whose driver ran over a 23-year-old man on 50 Highway near Lone Jack, Missouri. This verdict was the seventh highest verdict in Missouri in 2005.

In 2004, Denise negotiated a $1.6 million settlement for the injured victims of a motorcycle accident in southwest Missouri that occurred when lawn furniture flew out of the back of a pick-up truck. In 2002, Denise represented a group of employees who were discriminated against by their employer and achieved a seven figure confidential settlement for them.

In 1998, Denise secured the sixth highest settlement in Missouri, $2.25 million, in a case involving a semi-truck accident. Denise was part of the legal team that sued American Airlines and secured a confidential settlement on behalf of crash survivor Mercedes Ramirez and her family after a 1996 crash in Cali, Columbia killed 160 people, including Mercedes' parents.

She is a past president of the Board of Directors of Sheffield Place, a local long-term transitional living facility and educational program for homeless women and their children. Denise also served on the Board of Directors of the Women's Intersport Network of Kansas City and the Central Exchange. Denise served on the American Heart Association's Executive Leadership Team for the 2009 Go Red for Women campaign.

Denise grew up in Nebraska and married her high school sweetheart, Tim. They have two sons.