EDWARD J. KELLY IV
News
EDWARD J. KELLY IV
Partner
Edward J. Kelly is a trial attorney and investigator with more than 33 years experience in complex dispute resolution. He leads the firm’s Labor Law litigation team, handling catastrophic construction site accident claims. In his career practicing before state and federal courts in New York, he has handled a broad range of civil litigation matters, including medical and professional negligence, commercial disputes, general premises liability, automobile accidents, and intellectual property infringement. He also provides pro bono services to several anti-human trafficking organizations. He has tried more than 100 cases to verdict.
He has served two terms with Kelly, Rode & Kelly LLP, first as a partner between 1996-1999 and then again from 2016 to date. He formerly worked in Asia between 2000-2014, taking on roles as in-house counsel with companies such as Harris Corporation, Nike and Levi Strauss & Co., and also serving as a foreign contractor consulting for US government, NGOs and corporate clients in the fields of defense procurement, law enforcement, IP, software and pharmaceutical law. During his time overseas, he supported criminal prosecutions and managed cases involving commercial disputes, fraud, financial crime, counterfeiting and human trafficking.
He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the Scranton Preparatory School. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in 1988, where he also was a member of the wrestling team. He earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Boston University Law School in 1991 and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1992 and to the California Bar in 2000. Later, in 2000-01, he obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) degree and pursued post-graduate training in international law and intellectual property at Golden Gate University School of Law and the University of San Diego School of Law, respectively. He completed an intensive course in open source intelligence collection and analysis while at St. Catharine's College at Cambridge University in London and in 2004 completed the leadership course at the Centre for Creative Leadership in San Diego.
Ed has been a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, Boston University School of Law and Santa Clara University School of Law and has lectured widely on matters of trial practice, open source intelligence analysis, cross-border investigations and international law to the California and New York State Bar Associations, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Interpol, the International Anti- Counterfeiting Coalition (where he delivered the Keynote Address in Dallas in 2006), the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), and the International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association (2006 Annual Conference Keynote Speaker).
While working in Asia, he learned to speak Thai, and took on a leadership role in the fight against human trafficking in SE Asia through a non-profit foundation he helped to organize in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is very active in the Thai-American community in NYC. For work in the field of anti-human trafficking, he received the prestigious Victor Garo Award for Public Service from the Boston University School of Law in October 2009. In October 2019, he was honored to receive the Rev. T. Donald Rinfret S.J. Distinguished Alumnus Award on the occasion of Scranton Prep's 75th Anniversary.
He and his wife Sasithorn "May" Kelly have a nine year old son, Shane.
He has served two terms with Kelly, Rode & Kelly LLP, first as a partner between 1996-1999 and then again from 2016 to date. He formerly worked in Asia between 2000-2014, taking on roles as in-house counsel with companies such as Harris Corporation, Nike and Levi Strauss & Co., and also serving as a foreign contractor consulting for US government, NGOs and corporate clients in the fields of defense procurement, law enforcement, IP, software and pharmaceutical law. During his time overseas, he supported criminal prosecutions and managed cases involving commercial disputes, fraud, financial crime, counterfeiting and human trafficking.
He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the Scranton Preparatory School. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in 1988, where he also was a member of the wrestling team. He earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Boston University Law School in 1991 and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1992 and to the California Bar in 2000. Later, in 2000-01, he obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) degree and pursued post-graduate training in international law and intellectual property at Golden Gate University School of Law and the University of San Diego School of Law, respectively. He completed an intensive course in open source intelligence collection and analysis while at St. Catharine's College at Cambridge University in London and in 2004 completed the leadership course at the Centre for Creative Leadership in San Diego.
Ed has been a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, Boston University School of Law and Santa Clara University School of Law and has lectured widely on matters of trial practice, open source intelligence analysis, cross-border investigations and international law to the California and New York State Bar Associations, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Interpol, the International Anti- Counterfeiting Coalition (where he delivered the Keynote Address in Dallas in 2006), the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), and the International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association (2006 Annual Conference Keynote Speaker).
While working in Asia, he learned to speak Thai, and took on a leadership role in the fight against human trafficking in SE Asia through a non-profit foundation he helped to organize in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is very active in the Thai-American community in NYC. For work in the field of anti-human trafficking, he received the prestigious Victor Garo Award for Public Service from the Boston University School of Law in October 2009. In October 2019, he was honored to receive the Rev. T. Donald Rinfret S.J. Distinguished Alumnus Award on the occasion of Scranton Prep's 75th Anniversary.
He and his wife Sasithorn "May" Kelly have a nine year old son, Shane.