Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Technology, Commercial and Government Affairs

Counsel - Corporate and Finance Transactions

Michael Kent began his legal career serving as a lead network interconnection agreement negotiator for a major national local and long distance telecommunications carrier and has since represented  a wide variety of companies ranging from privately held venture capital funded startups to publicly traded Fortune 50 retail giants at all stages of their lifecycles.

Michael’s practice centers on complex, technology focused B2B transactions and has further involved the development of B2C consumer facing contracts used by retailers delivering services to end user consumers including end user licensing agreements, terms of use and, outside of the technology arena, agreements for construction and home improving contracting services.

Michael has extensive experience negotiating business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology outsourcing (ITO) transactions, IT acquisitions; software licensing, maintenance, and development agreements; software as a service (SaaS) agreements; consulting agreements; contract manufacturing agreements; model risk management agreements, and other strategic commercial transactions on the procurement side as well as the sales side. Industries served by Michael include telecommunications, telematics and remote sensing, i.e., the “internet of things” (IOT), “big box” retail, banking, and fintech.

Michael is well regarded by his clients for his practical, personable, business minded approach and ability to work with diverse stakeholders including sourcing specialists and business, operational, and technical leads. Further to his commercial work, Michael’s clients have relied on him to resolve disputes, implement regulatory compliance programs, represent them before government regulators, and advise them on general corporate matters.

Outside of his legal practice, Michael has served as an officer in the Georgia State Guard for over 15 years where, following graduation from Officer Candidate School at the Georgia Military Institute in Macon he was commissioned as a JAG  and currently serves as a staff officer with the rank of Major in a field unit whose primary mission is providing military support to civil authorities such as local emergency management agencies, first responders, and other state and local government agencies in response to domestic incidents such as natural disasters.

Michael is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.