OUR FOUNDER
Kent I. B. Walker
Mr. Walker represents families and business owners of all kinds. He specializes in protecting assets and preserving and transferring wealth. He works with all forms of business entity whether it's a corporation, an LLC, or a partnership.
He provides complete estate and succession planning services to these various persons and entity owners including drafting Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney and Advance Directives for Health Care (also known as "Living Wills" or "Medical Directives"). He provides varieties of Wills and Trusts that minimize estate tax exposure for clients of all levels of net worth. He structures Pour Over Wills and Revocable Trusts to avoid the lengthy and burdensome probate process.
Mr. Walker provides a complete suite of business succession planning services including Buy-Sell Agreements and Revocable Trusts.
Mr. Walker manages estate administration, trust administration, and probate matters. He leads a team of experienced paralegals to assist executors and administrators step by step through the administration of the estate.
He frequently works with foreign citizens to implement their estate plans in Georgia. He incorporates tax-advantageous strategies such as Qualifying Domestic Trusts (QDOTs) for non-U.S. citizens.
Mr. Walker focuses on estate planning to provide innovative solutions to meet his clients' family and tax objectives while working to discount and "freeze" asset values. He uses income tax planning to improve a client’s income tax result before significant transactions or events.
As part of Mr. Walker's small business corporate practice, he forms family limited partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and foundations. He advises foundations, corporations, and partnerships regarding tax issues Mr. Walker advises clients on asset sales, asset purchases, and like-kind exchange transactions. He works with his tax-exempt clients to receive 501(c)(3) certification and advises on continued compliance.
Mr. Walker acts as general counsel to international businesses and provides advice regarding import matters and compliance, mergers, and acquisitions, capital raises, deal structuring, and other strategic planning. Mr. Walker also provides general counsel services to his clients including preparing and implementing employee and partnership agreements, negotiating business contracts, as well as advising clients on other investment matters.
Before his legal career, Mr. Walker worked on Wall Street as a foreign exchange trader at the asset management firm Jennison Associates. After relocating to Atlanta, Mr. Walker worked at such investment firms as Salomon Smith Barney (Citigroup Global Markets) and JP Morgan. While at JP Morgan, Mr. Walker was a Registered Representative of the National Association of Securities Dealers and developed model portfolios and investment strategies for S&P 500 companies, which included liability-driven investing for defined benefit plans. In addition, deploying his knowledge of hedge funds and natural resource limited partnerships, Mr. Walker specialized in delivering alternative investment solutions to high net worth clients.
Mr. Walker earned his Juris Doctor Degree from Emory University School of Law. While studying at Emory Law he served as Executive Notes & Comments Editor on the Emory International Law Review. He authored “China Oil, Inc.: Challenges to Chinese Achievement of Energy Security through Global Acquisitions”, which he presented at the Yale Journal of International Law, Young Scholars Conference, Mar. 4, 2006, at Yale Law School. He attained the Transactional Law Certificate upon graduation from Emory Law.
Mr. Walker earned his undergraduate degrees at the University of Georgia where he received multiple scholarships. He has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Political Science and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) with an International Business Finance concentration. As part of his undergraduate degree, he studied International Law and International Environmental Law at Oxford University, England.
Mr. Walker is admitted to practice law in the State of Georgia. He is a member of the Atlanta Bar Association and the Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar of Georgia.
Mr. Walker has traveled extensively throughout the world. Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, he has lived in Canada, Australia, and the United States. He has studied abroad in Japan and England. He has traveled to over 65 countries and enjoys exploring and understanding new cultures. He is fluent in French and has extensively studied in Japanese.
Mr. Walker enjoys time with his wife and their three children. He returns often to his native British Columbia to snow ski, sail, hike, enjoy the outdoors, and spend time with his family. He is a passionate supporter of his favorite soccer team, the Chelsea Football Club.