PROFILE
Kelly’s practice areas include health care law and professional liability defense, employment and discrimination matters, Title IX employment and disciplinary matters, insurance defense and subrogation, construction and commercial disputes, and tax concerns. She has extensive litigation experience with complex and multifaceted cases, and regularly appears before state and federal courts, in addition to administrative, governmental, and higher-education tribunals.
Kelly’s undergraduate and master studies focused on international studies and economics. She is fluent in German and speaks Polish and Italian. While attending the University of Maine School of Law, she worked as a summer associate at the Viennese law firm of Hausmaninger Kletter in Austria, assisting multi-national corporations in resolving disputes and participating in complex international arbitration. During law school, Kelly was a member of Moot Court Board and awarded recognition for writing the Best Respondent’s Brief. She also was an editor for the Ocean and Coastal Law Journal and authored an article about the international debate surrounding alewives and the use of shared fishing ladders by Canada and the United States.
Kelly served as aide to Virginia Senator John W. Warner while an undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University. A star athlete, she was a goalkeeper for both the Hopkins field hockey and lacrosse teams, and was honored as an All-American in field hockey. After university, Kelly served as a member of the USA Field Hockey National Outdoor Team. In 2018, she was named by the U.S. Women’s Masters Olympic Field Hockey Committee to its traveling team, and represented Team USA during the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Masters World Cup in Terrassa, Spain.
Since joining the firm in 2010, she consistently has been ranked in New England Super Lawyers and Super Lawyers. Best Lawyers recognized Kelly beginning in 2018 for her work in: Litigation – Labor and Employment and Professional Malpractice Law – Defendants. In 2020, Kelly was awarded “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in the area of Professional Malpractice Law (Defendants).
EDUCATION
University of Maine School of Law, J.D., cum laude
Seton Hall University, Whitehead School of Diplomacy, M.A., summa cum laude
Johns Hopkins University, B.A.
EXPERIENCE
PRACTICE AREAS
Our attorneys have been recognized in their specialties and honored by their peers locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally and are trusted by clients to provide sound, common-sense advice and solutions.
Admitted to Practice
- State of Maine
- State of New York
- U.S. District Court, District of Maine
Member, Past and Present
- Maine State Bar Association, Member
- Cumberland County Bar Association, Member
- Gignoux Inns of Court, Member
- First Descents, Alumna
- Team USA
Selected Reported Cases
- Tax Law: Unforeseeable Emergency Distributions and Voluntary Self-Correction Clarification for IRC § 409A Document Failures, 18 Me. Lawyers Rev. 22 (Nov. 26, 2010)
- Teeth Whitening: The Unauthorized Practice of Dentistry, New Journal of the Maine Dental Association (2009)
- The Maine Legislature’s Bill: An Act to Stop the Alewives Restoration Program in the St. Croix River – Have the Canadians and the Biologists Gone Beserk?, Ocean and Coastal Law Journal (2008); cited in Pl.’s Compl. ¶¶ 52-55, Friends of MerryMeeting Bay, et. al. v. Olsen, et. al., p. 18-20 (D. Me. 2011); Act ultimately disapproved by the Environmental Protection Agency, which required renewed passage of alewives to portions of the St. Croix River (July 9, 2012).
Awards, Merits & Honors
- Identified among the New England Super Lawyers Rising Stars for 2013 – 2018
- Recognized by Best Lawyers in America – Litigation and Professional Medical Malpractice Law (2018-2024)
- Selected to Super Lawyers: 2019
- “Lawyer of the Year” Best Lawyers – Professional Malpractice Law (Defendants) 2020
Designations
