Ben Carpenter is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where he has taught since 2010 and was named the law school's Professor of the Year by the graduating class in 2014. Prior to teaching, Professor Carpenter was an associate at two international law firms for eight years, where he practiced in the Global Projects and Trusts, Estates & Taxation practice groups and served on the recruiting committee. From 2014-2017, Professor Carpenter took a three-year break from teaching to serve as managing director of a private capital management firm, and he presently sits on the board of a large privately owned trust company. He pulls from each of these experiences to inform discussions with students regarding career options and professional identity formation over the arc of one's career. In the classroom, he has taught Lawyering Skills I and II, Federal Estate & Gift Taxation, Comparative Trusts & Estates, and Foundations of Justice II.

Professor Carpenter's primary scholarship has addressed the effects of assisted reproductive technologies in estate planning and family law, and his work has been published in specialty journals at Cornell and Yale. His first article, which focused on the inheritance rights of children not just born, but conceived, after the death of a parent, was cited favorably by the Michigan Supreme Court and the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Professor Carpenter's recent scholarship has also begun to explore the interplay (and sometimes tension) between law firms' pro bono efforts and civil legal aid, and the role of agency and faith in one's professional identity.