Rockwell & Kaufmann, LLC
104 St. Francis Street, Suite A-200
Mobile, AL 36602
(251)694-1048 /  

Larkin graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2003. She graduated cum laude from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., with a BA degree in American Studies. Larkin is an associate for Rockwell & Kaufmann, LLC, where she specializes in Complex Litigation, Medical Malpractice and Long-Term Care Defense.

At UA, Larkin was a member of the Bench & Bar Honor Society, president of the Environmental Law Society, and completed a summer study abroad at Australian National University School of Law. She was Co-Chair of the Temple Courts Tutoring Program for two years, and on the Leadership Council of the Protestant Campus Ministries. She is a member of the Alabama and Mississippi State Bars, the Defense Research Institute and the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association. She has served on the executive committee of the Young Lawyers Section of the Alabama State Bar, and on the Board of Directors of the Mobile Volunteer Lawyers Program, also having served as its Vice-President and as a member of its executive committee. She is on the executive committee of the Young Lawyers Division of the Mobile Bar Association, is a junior executive board member of the American Cancer Society,  Women’s Initiative Member of the United Way, and active in the Anglican Church of the Apostles (Alpha Discipleship Study, and Crown Ministries Financial/Stewardship Study).

The attorney who recommended Larkin says, “This is not just a perfunctory recommendation. I know Larkin very well, and have worked with her closely, and I specifically encouraged her to apply for the Leadership Forum. She served as vice-president of the board of directors for the Mobile Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Program for two years during my recent term as president. Her position was not just a title; we have a very active, working VLP board which runs an excellent program with a budget of $300,000. Larkin has spearheaded the program’s public relations and publicity drive, which has an extensive outreach program for local social workers and ministers as well. We have picked Larkin as an up-and-coming leader in the VLP, and she probably would be president this year or next if she had not decided to slow down a little because of her young child. She is conscientious, well-organized, and a very hard worker. She is a fine person with great intelligence and integrity.”

In her own words, Larkin says, “After much consideration I have realized that, likely, my greatest contribution to the legal profession is the type of person that I strive to be both in my professional and personal life. I strive to be diligent and hard-working without being unduly competitive or unnecessarily adversarial. I have been blessed to have had a loving family, the opportunity to obtain a wonderful education, and many wonderful mentors. Those of us who find ourselves in such fortunate positions have a duty to give back to our communities in such a way that make our communities better places. The church reminds us that we are simply stewards of God’s bounty, and I believe we are similarly stewards of the talents and gifts that God gives each one of us. We must ask ourselves how we can use our talents and skills to serve others. With that being said, I signed on as a volunteer with the Mobile Bar Association VLP upon passing the bar exam in 2003. One of the first cases I received was a complex multi-generational real estate dispute that sounded more like something out of a Faulkner novel than a modern VLP case. The case involved a wealthy white land developer and a poor black family who had lived on the same piece of property since the land had been granted to their ancestors after the Civil War.  The developer had effectively landlocked the family by purchasing all the land around their homestead, a beautiful piece of property dotted with live oaks and several modest homes. Once the developer obtained all the surrounding land, and after the family refused to sell their remaining parcel, the landowner blocked all access to their property by building a wooden fence around it. Presumably, he did this in an effort to coerce them to sell their property, which would allow him to proceed with the development of a new, high-end neighborhood. As a VLP attorney, there were certain issues I was not equipped to address, ranging from evidence that the developer’s family had begun forging deeds for portions of the original land grant as early as the 1930’s, to an allegation that a corrupt judge had been paid off to rule that the forgeries were indeed valid as late as the 1960’s. However, the primary and most urgent issue, which caused the family to contact the VLP, was their need for a right of way to access their homes. I was able to reach a prompt settlement with the developer, which allowed the family to remain on the property.  This family’s situation made me realize how daunting the legal system can be to those who lack education, experience and contacts in the legal community. It was also a dramatic reminder of the inequities that still linger in our community as a result of historic racial and socio-economic inequalities. This case made a dramatic impression on me as I returned to my home town to begin my career as a lawyer. It is worth noting, however, that the VLP was not my first experience coming face-to-face with such inequities. As a freshman at Georgetown, I signed up as a volunteer with a program aimed at increasing literacy among Washington D.C.’s inner-city youth. The program sent tutors into two housing projects located a few blocks from the Capital. The neighborhoods had one of the highest, if not the highest, per capita murder rate in the country. The contrast of such poverty and crime in a neighborhood located within blocks of our nation’s Capital was stark, to say the least. There were numerous occasions when we heard gun shots, witnessed drug busts or saw police chases during our nightly tutoring sessions. However, the more involved I became with the tutoring program, the more committed I felt toward the community as a whole. Ultimately, as we gained more tutors and students, we split the program between two housing projects and had about ten tutors going to each project four nights a week. I became Co-Chair of the Temple Courts Tutoring program my junior year and continued in that role through the end of my senior year. We also joined with local community leaders and began another program called “Increase the Peace” which was a neighborhood initiative aimed at reducing crime, increasing business development and creating community leadership from within the community. Through my involvement with leaders within this seemingly forgotten community, I saw the kind of hope that thrives even under the worst circumstances and the positive impact a handful of committed leaders can make towards turning a community around. Something about each of these programs drew me closer to my community and made me want to seek out the underlying causes of the problems I saw, rather than simply address the immediate, superficial needs of the community. I genuinely believe that my ability to relate to many different types of people, and to gain their trust and confidence, has been refined through my volunteer activities in the community. I take great pride in the fact that I can change people’s negative impression of lawyers through small acts of caring and understanding. I have already had an opportunity to get to know and work with many of the State Bar’s young leaders in addressing issues facing our Bar and the communities we serve. I feel proud to be a member of a Bar that is committed to rendering service to ‘the least of these.’ I believe my participation in the Forum would be yet another means of building relationships with Alabama’s future leaders and learning more about the issues our state faces.”