Born the son of William Sebring Kirkpatrick in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Kirkpatrick attended the public schools, then received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Lafayette College in 1905 and attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

[2] He served in World War I as major and lieutenant colonel, judge advocate, and was a member of the board of review of courts-martial in the United States Army.

[2] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 3, 1927, and received his commission the same day.

[a] His service was terminated on November 28, 1970, due to his death in Cumberstone,[3] an unincorporated community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

[1] Kirkpatrick is remembered as "one of the unsung heroes of American corporate and securities law,"[4] issuing early but influential decisions in Insurance Shares Corp. v. Northern Fiscal Corp.,[5] which described circumstances in which a corporation's controlling shareholder has a fiduciary duty not to sell the control block to a looter, and Kardon v. National Gypsum Co.,[6] first recognizing an implied private cause of action for Rule 10b-5 violations.