William Mallory Kent

I graduated first in my class from a private boarding school then went to Harvard College where I graduated with honors majoring in German Literature.  After Harvard I returned to Florida, graduated from the University of Florida Law School, with honors, where I was a research assistant for Prof. Winston Nagan. After law school and admission to the Florida Bar in 1978, I started out in "Big Law" doing tax work.  I moved to Los Angeles, was admitted to the California Bar, and ended up in a New York law firm, Rogers & Wells, now known as Clifford Chance, and stayed there until the 1986 Tax Reform Act abolished my practice area the same year I would have made partner!  I applied for a fellowship from a German foundation, the Robert Bosch Foundation, and went to Germany as a Bosch Fellow in 1987. 

Before leaving for Germany I volunteered at the local public defender office for two months - I had never been in a courtroom in my prior nine years as a lawyer - was thrown into a courtroom by myself with two hours trial training and fell immediately in love with it.  I won my first trial before having to leave for Germany.  I was drawn to criminal defense and felt a tremendous sense of injustice by how I saw the poor being treated.  While a fellow in Germany I interviewed with Deutsche Bank for a job in investment banking, but my heart said to me, go back and be a public defender.  I called the public defender from Germany and asked if they would hire me, they said yes, and the rest is history. 

I worked as a state PD for 18 months, won my first appeal, won several trials, and then was hired as a Federal Public Defender.  Within three yeas as a Federal Defender I had a case granted cert at the US Supreme Court, which I briefed and argued all on my own and won 9-0. That case was Terry Lynn Stinson v. United States.  As a federal public defender I did trials and appeals, once winning four federal criminal trials back to back.  After serving a ten year minimum mandatory sentence as a federal defender I did what I had always wanted to do, which was to open my own solo practice law office in 1999.  As quickly as possible I developed a practice focused on criminal appeals and post conviction relief, which today is 90% of my practice, the other 10% is criminal trial work and sentencings.

I am ranked by Lexis-Nexis Super Lawyer as in the top 5% of appellate attorneys in Florida. I am also listed by US News and World Report as a Best Lawyer and ranked by Martindale Hubbell as AV, meaning top in skill and ethics.  Martindale Hubbell and Super Lawyer's rankings are based on peer reviews by lawyers and judges familiar with an attorney's practice.

In 2017 my nephew, Ryan McFarland, graduated from Florida State University College of Law where he was on Law Review and he joined my practice and we renamed our practice Kent & McFarland. Mrs. Susan Davis is our legal secretary and office manager and she has been with me since 2001.  She is the voice on the phone when you call the office and she is devoted to our clients.