Kent CapertonGeneral Counsel/Senior Consultant

Kent Caperton is a former State Senator, an attorney and an experienced consultant. Currently, Kent is specializing in a legal and consulting practice. He focuses on clients with issues rooted in public policy. He deals with a wide range of issues including healthcare, higher education, intellectual property and infrastructure.

Prior to opening his solo practice, Mr. Caperton was a principal and senior member of the Ben Barnes Group and the Gemini Global Group. Kent has dealt with issues at international, national and state levels of government. Additionally, he worked with law firms on numerous complex litigation matters.  Prior to joining the Barnes group, Mr. Caperton was a Managing Director at Public Strategies, focusing primarily on legislative, regulatory and political policy for that firm’s national telecommunications client. He managed a large team of professionals in thirteen states embedded with the client.

Mr. Caperton served as a State Senator from 1981-1991. His Senate service included a variety of assignments as Chairman of the Finance, Jurisprudence and Criminal Justice committees. Additionally, he served as a member of the Texas Judicial Council, the Legislative Budget Board, and the Legislative Audit Committee. Texas Monthly consistently ranked Caperton on its Best Legislator list and in 1989 described him as “the consensus choice for the Best Legislator of the Year.” In 1987, he was described as “the dominant member of the Senate.”

Prior to his Senate service, Mr. Caperton served as Municipal Judge in Bryan, Texas; Visiting Lecturer at Texas A&M University College of Business; Assistant Attorney General at the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Texas; and Assistant to the President of Texas A&M University.  Mr. Caperton holds a JD from the University of Texas School of Law and earned his B.B.A., cum laude, from Texas A&M University in 1971. He is admitted to practice in State and Federal Courts in Texas and the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Mr. Caperton has been recognized for his contributions in the community and legal profession. He received the James Madison Award from the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas in 1988; the Mary Polk Leadership Award from the Texas Council on Family Violence in 1987; Outstanding Legislator from the Alliance for Judicial Funding in 1989; and as Lutheran of the Year in 1989.  Caperton has also served on the Board of Advisors for the Freedom of Information Foundation, the Dean’s Roundtable at the University of Texas School of Law, The Board of Lutheran Social Services of the South, the Executive Committee of the University of Texas Law School Alumni Association, the Advisory Committee to the Texas A&M University Press, and on the Executive Committee of the Capital Area Boy Scouts.