Edward J. Kelly is a trial attorney and investigator with more than 28 years’ experience in complex dispute resolution. He began his legal career with Kelly, Rode & Kelly LLP in 1991 and served as a partner between 1996-1999. He then took on roles as in-house counsel with companies such as Harris Corporation, Nike and Levi Strauss & Co., and primarily worked in Asia between 2000-2014. He returned to the firm in 2014 and now handles a broad range of civil litigation matters in the state and federal courts of New York. He is also admitted to practice in California.
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 March of 1992. 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 consulted for clients in the fields of medical and professional negligence, law enforcement, software and pharmaceutical law and has tried cases involving commercial disputes, negligence/professional malpractice, fraud, construction site accidents, intellectual property infringement and human trafficking.
In 2016, he was elected to serve as a Member of the Board of the Trial Lawyers Section of the Nassau-Suffolk County Bar Association and is a member of the Thai-American Bar Association. Mr. Kelly 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 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), the International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association. 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 organized in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is active in the Thai-American community and provides pro bono consulting to an anti-trafficking organization called Garden Of Hope in New York. 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. He was recently nominated to receive the T. Donald Rinfret Distinguished Alumnus Award on the occasion of Scranton Prep's 75th Anniversary.
He and his wife Sasithorn "May" Kelly have a four year old son, Shane.
