Todd Kelly is, first, and foremost, a child of God. He is a devoted husband to his wife, Robbye, and father of four amazing children, Joshua, Meghan, Matthew, and Selby. He cooks one large batch of crawfish per year and has become adept at smoking a brisket. Because he has tried to do life without Him, Todd will testify that he is an utter failure without his savior, Jesus, and that the rest of the narrative below is possible only by His unending grace… read more about that miracle in Todd’s recent autobiographical book The Power Within.
Experience on your side
Professionally, Todd is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is “AV” rated by Martindale-Hubbell. Todd is licensed in Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado and Pennsylvania. He grew up in Arlington, Texas, and received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Texas in 1987, while attending on an ROTC Scholarship. He earned his juris doctorate from the Dickinson School of Law in 1995 as a member of the Woolsack Honor Society, while serving as a U.S. Marine, where he returned to practice as a criminal defense attorney in the judge advocate’s corps.
Todd left the Marine Corps to enter private practice in 1998, after attaining the rank of Major. He represented asbestos exposure victims and other seriously injured people in Virginia and Pennsylvania before returning to represent victims of birth injury and nursing home abuse in his native Texas in 2002.
In 2006, Todd opened his own law firm in Houston, Texas, where he gained recognition for his representation of sexual assault victims by overseas military contractors.
Background
Todd has been featured on 20/20, The Rachel Maddow Show, and has been interviewed on legal topics by numerous national and local news programs, including CBS’ Insider Edition. In 2009, Todd appeared in front of committees of the United States Congress speaking on the Fairness in Arbitration Act, in an effort to eliminate mandatory, binding, pre-dispute arbitration provisions that are found in consumer products and other contracts. Todd was consulted by Senator Al Franken, who sponsored an amendment to the Senate Appropriations bill during that year which led to the abolition of forced arbitration for victims of sexual assault by most military contractors.
In 2013, Todd was inducted into the Texas Lawyer Hall of Fame following a $16,900,000 verdict on behalf of a mentally handicapped woman who was raped by a caregiver at her daycare facility.
Todd has received his 10-year Super Lawyer award as a Texas Super Lawyer, having been named by that publication in 2011, 2012 and every year since 2014.
Protector of the Constitution
Todd has dedicated his life to making America safer. He began that service as a Marine Corps combat engineer officer. He now continues that work by protecting those truly injured people who will never get the justice that our system promises to them without holding greedy, powerful corporate entities responsible for the damage they cause. As a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Texas Trial Lawyers’ Association, and as a past president of the Capital Area Trial Lawyers’ Association, he remains a staunch defender of our right to trial by a jury of our peers in all cases with a value exceeding $20.00, as guaranteed by the 7th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Todd urges that if we fail to protect the 7th Amendment to the United States Constitution, we will eventually lose the rights guaranteed by all of the Amendments because it is this right to hold the powerful accountable, protected by the 7th Amendment, that protects the individual freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution.
Education
Celebration Leadership Institute
Celebration Church, Georgetown, Texas
Diploma awarded – 2022
Trial Lawyers College
Student Graduate – July 2009
Faculty Instructor since May 2022
The Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University
Juris Doctorate – June 1995
Honors: Woolsack Honor Society
The University of Texas at Austin
B.A. – May 1987
Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society
Licenses and Specialties
LICENSES HELD
Texas: 2002
Virginia: 1995
Oklahoma: 2010
New Mexico: 2020
Colorado: 2021
Pennsylvania (Inactive)
United States Supreme Court: 2001
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: 2008
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces: 1995
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia: 1998
United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas: 2007
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas: 2007
United States District Court for the Western District of Texas: 2015
United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas: 2019
SPECIALTIES/BOARD CERTIFICATION
Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, December 2015
Faculty Appointments
Faculty Instructor, The Trial Lawyers College
Board Membership
Founding Member, Amour Center and Safe House
Chairman of the Advisory Board: Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Central Texas
Memberships and Recognitions
CLASSES/SEMINARS
Fairness in Arbitration Act, Press Conference with Congressional leaders
Fairness in Arbitration – Lecture, University of Delaware, 2009
Fairness in Arbitration – Lecture, University of Texas Law School, 2010
Intangible Damages – Lecture, Permian Basin Trial Lawyers Association, 2015
Intangible Damages – Lecture, Byran/College Station Trial Lawyers Association, 2016
Proving Causation with Pre-Existing Injuries – Lecture, TTLA Car Wrecks Seminar, March 2017
Trial Advocacy College of Texas (TACT) Faculty, Austin, Texas, July 2018
Civil Justice for Victims of Crime in Texas – Panel Discussion, NCVBA, February 2019
TLC Regional Seminar, F-Warrior Ambassador, March 2019
Trying a Case Without Medical Bills – Lecture, CATLA CLE, May 2019
Trying a Case Without Medical Bills – Lecture, TTLA Midyear, June 2019
Open Wide: Opening Statements to Prepare a Jury to Think Big – Lecture, TTLA Midyear, May 2020
Trying a Case Without Medical Bills after SB-207 – Lecture, CATLA CLE, May 2021
Trial Advocacy College of Texas (TACT) Faculty, Irving, Texas July 2021
TTLA Advanced Tactics & Strategy (Trying Cases without Medical Bills), September 2021
South Plains Trial Lawyers’ Assoc. (Trying Cases without Medical Bills), September 2021
Permian Basin Trial Lawyers’ Assoc. (Trying Cases without Medical Bills), September 2021
Tarrant County Trial Lawyers’ Assoc. (Trying Cases without Medical Bills), October 2021
Texas Trial Lawyers Association Destination CLE on Actual Damages, April 2022
Texas Bar Association CLE panelist on Trucking Tips and Tricks, November 2022
CATLA: Worth Dying For: 7 Ways That Being a Trial Lawyer Can Kill You, January 2023
Texas Young Lawyers Association: Panel Presentation on Mental Health, January 2023
HONORS AND AWARDS
Rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell
Texas Super Lawyer, A Thomson Reuters Business, 2011-2012, 2014-2022
Austin’s Top Attorneys (Personal Injury), 2019 – 2022
Three Separate Cases included in the Top 10 Verdicts in Texas: 2022
Top 10 Verdicts in Texas: 2020
Top 50 Personal Injury US Verdicts 2020
Top 100 US Verdicts 2020
Featured in Verdict Search’s “Top Texas Verdicts” by Texas Lawyer for 2011, and twice in 2018
Recognized as one of H Texas Magazine’s “Houston’s Top Lawyers,” in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2012
Top 100 US Verdicts
Voted The Global Directory of Who’s Who Top Lawyer of 2015
Texas Lawyer Hall of Fame: 2013 Inductee
AVVO Rating of “10 – Superb”
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
Texas Trial Lawyers Association, VP of Political Affairs: 2019-2020; PAC, Chair: 2020-2022
Capital Area Trial Lawyers’ Association, Past President: 2020-2021
Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, Advocate Member: 2021 – present
The American Board of Trial Advocates: 2016 – present
The Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court: 2020 – present
The “F-Warriors,” Past Region 4 Representative, 2013-2020
American Association of Justice, Member
Million Dollar Advocate’s Forum, Life Member
Multi-Million Dollar Advocate’s Forum, Life Member
State Bar of Texas, Member
National Trial Lawyers (Top 100 Trial Lawyers), 2012-2022
National Association of Distinguished Counsel (Top 1% of Attorneys Nationwide)
The National Crime Victim’s Bar Association, Member
Reset Mentoring, Former Teen Mentor
PAST EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS
The Kelly Law Firm, Owner, Trial Lawyer: 2006-2012
Lone Star Karate & Self-Defense, Owner, Sensei: 2006-2012
Haskins, Gregan & Kelly, Partner, Trial Lawyer: 2002-2006
Cohen & Feeley, Associate, Trial Lawyer: 2001-2002
Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein, Associate, Trial Lawyer: 1998 – 2001
United States Marine Corps, Major, Judge Advocate: 1987-1998
