After having acted as defense counsel in numerous minor and major "political" criminal proceedings, Eberhard Kempf has increasingly defended in white-collar and corporate criminal proceedings. Keywords are: co-op, DG Bank, CDU party financing scandal, Mannesmann, Siemens, WestLB, German regional banks in the financial crisis, Sal. Oppenheim, Porsche SE, Deutsche Bank/Kirch, Stadtsparkasse KölnBonn. He has been advising large and medium-sized companies in criminal and compliance matters for years, representing those involved in committal (Hans-Joachim Klein) and extradition (Nick Leeson) procedures.

From 1990 to 2017 Eberhard Kempf was a member and from 1996 to 2005 chairman of the criminal law committee of the German Bar Association. Since 2015 he has been an honorary member of the committee of criminal law. In 2017 he was awarded the Alsberg Prize of Deutsche Strafverteidiger e.V.

Eberhard Kempf was actively involved in the foundation of Barreau Pénal International/International Criminal Bar (ICB-BPI), an association of lawyers at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He was vice president from 2003 to 2005 and co-president of the ICB-BPI from 2005 to 2007. From 2012 to 2014 he was chairman of the Disciplinary Board for the International Criminal Court in The Hague.