 Having attended Oundle School  and studied Natural Sciences as an undergraduate at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Kitchin switched to Law in his final year and was called to the Bar (Gray's Inn) in 1977; he has been a bencher since 2003.During his university days, he also coxed the Cambridge team that won the 1975 Boat Race.He became a Queen's Counsel in 1994.