About Mara Kent

Mara Kent (she/her/hers) is a life-long resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan and a licensed attorney since 1996. Mara’s practice areas include estate planning, probate and trust administration, elder law and long-term care planning, special needs planning, estate planning for surrogacy, same-sex adoptions and step-parent adoptions, and prenuptial agreements.

Mara loves working with people and making personal connections with her clients, doing what she generally considers to be “happy law.” Mara counsels her clients on how to plan for major life events by anticipating common (and not-so-common) problems before they arise, so her clients can strategize about how to minimize court involvement, family conflict, added expense, and stress. She helps clients plan for their future care and the care of loved ones, as well as assists clients in establishing a plan for the distribution of their estate after they die.

Mara received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1993 and is a 1996 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where she graduated second in her law school class. While in law school, she worked in the Office of General Counsel for Ford Motor Company and went on to distinction as a law clerk for former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Michael F. Cavanagh from 1996-1998. From 2000–2014, Mara was a tenured professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School where she taught contract law, sales, negotiable instruments, and legal research & writing. Mara remains a Senior Professor Emerita.

In addition to her practice, Mara is a committed to her community, doing pro bono legal service and volunteering as a board member for several community organizations. She provides legal services to Habitat for Humanity clients with estate planning and probate needs, pro bono probate counseling for the Washtenaw County Probate Court and the Homes for Generations partnership with the Washtenaw County Bar Association.