Kirk Weinert graduated from the University of Texas with honors in 1961, earning a B. A. degree in Plan II. After serving two years on active duty as an officer in the United States Navy, Kirk entered the University of Texas Law School, graduating in 1966.

During his career, Kirk was an associate for four years with the Washington, D. C. firm of Shannon & Morley, where he represented energy and independent telephone company clients before the Federal Power Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. Thereafter, he relocated to Houston where he spent six years with Texaco Inc. as their natural gas regulatory attorney. In 1976, he began a twenty-five year career with The Coastal Corporation (now El Paso Corporation), where he became their Vice-president for Ad Valorem Taxation in 1990. Kirk has had extensive experience in the litigation of property tax cases in Texas and other states involving energy company properties, including regulated gas pipelines, refineries, oil and gas reserves, products terminals, and salt dome storage facilities.

Kirk is licensed to practice in Texas and the District of Columbia, and is admitted before the United States Supreme Court; the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Fifth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits and the United States District Court of the District of Columbia. He was Secretary of the Federal Energy Bar Association, and, from 1974 to 1991 was a member of the Board of Editors of the Oil & Gas Reporter, a Southwestern Legal Foundation publication.