The POWER List: Benjamin L. Tompkins

Kennyhertz Perry, Kansas City

For more than 10 years, Ben Tompkins litigated on behalf of the U.S. government. Now he uses that experience to assist clients on the other side of the table who face a variety of tax-related problems.

Tompkins earned his law degree in 2000 from the George Washington University Law School. He clerked for Judge Stephen H. Glickman of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals before becoming an associate at a Washington, D.C. firm.

In 2006, he joined the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division as a trial attorney. He remained in that role for almost eight years, litigating more than 100 civil tax cases during his tenure.

He joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California in Los Angeles in 2014, spending about three and a half years there. During his tenure as a government attorney, he led criminal and civil tax prosecutions and investigations, and he was first chair in numerous bench and jury trials.

The Kansas City native returned to the city in 2017, moving into private practice at Graves Garrett. In 2019, he joined Kennyhertz Perry, where his practice focuses on tax controversies, white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations and corporate compliance issues.

Tompkins often speaks and writes about criminal and civil tax issues.