Faculty Profile: Kent Halkett

Kent is an experienced attorney with broad and deep experience handling complex commercial disputes and litigation. He has practiced at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts, peer review proceedings, arbitrations and mediations. He has an established record of successful outcomes for plaintiff and defendant clients in litigation, and clients with legal issues and disputes outside of litigation.

In addition, Kent is the author of several articles on areas of interest in the legal community, published in the Tennessee Bar Journal, Vanderbilt Law, California Lawyer, Los Angeles Lawyer, and Association of Business Trial Lawyers (ABTL) Reports.  His article, titled "Mental Health in the Legal Profession: A Crisis, a Case Study and a Call to Action," the cover story in the Tennessee Bar Journal  (January/February 2021), hit a nerve with lawyers and non-lawyers across the country by putting a spotlight on a taboo topic in the law.  The American Bar Association's ABA Journal has published his articles titled "A BigLaw partner's journey through clinical depression" on April 23, 2021 and "A BigLaw suicide survivor's prescription for the legal profession's mental health crisis" on May 16, 2024. Currently, Kent serves as a member of the ABA's Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs-Law School Committee.

Kent graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 1981.  For many years, he served as the attorney advisor for the VLS student volunteers at the Shade Tree Clinic (a medical-legal partnership).  He also served as the Class Agent for VLS Class 1981.

Kent is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and California.