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Mr. Kelly has more than 30 years experience handling cases within the Kaiser Arbitration system on behalf of injured KFHP members and victims of Permanente Group negligence. He has successfully prosecuted cases involving a host of medical and diagnostic mistakes including in the obstetrical malpractice, cardiology, failure to diagnose, wrongful death, spinal lesions, pediatric injuries, intracranial bleeding, stroke, and cancer diagnoses delays. He has arbitrated cases in both the 1 arbitrator and 3 arbitrator formats (the two available options under Kaiser member's contracts.) He has won cases against Kaiser involving wrongful death, delayed diagnoses, emergency room errors, labor and delivery mistakes, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery and radiology. During his career, he has settled cases against Kaiser with a total gross value in excess of 150 million dollars.
In 2010 he was asked by the Consumer Attorneys of California to teach other lawyers how to prosecute cases against Kaiser - and served as Co-Chair of a program dedicated to training lawyers how to effectively represent Kaiser members.
He has handled cases against doctors, nurses, PA's, FNP's CNA's, and other Kaiser health care professionals at almost all of Kaiser's Northern California facilities, as well as their hospitals in Southern California and Hawaii.
In 2010 he was voted the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association "Trial Lawyer of the Year" and nominated for the Consumer Attorneys of California "Consumer Attorney of the Year" award (his second such nomination). In December 2009 he was chosen by the readers of San Francisco's Recorder legal newspaper as the "Best Personal Injury Attorney" in San Francisco and featured on the cover of the 2009 Northern California Super Lawyers magazine. His 2010 $23,200,000 jury verdict in a medical negligence case ranks among the nation's largest verdicts ever for obstetrical injury. He holds an "AV" rating (highest rating) from Martindale-Hubbell and has been favorably profiled in numerous legal periodicals.
He has been recognized by his peers by election to the most selective and prestigious legal honorary societies. He is a National Board member of ABOTA, and serves for 2011-2012 on the ABOTA Foundation Board of Trustees. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and was elected in 2011 as Vice President of the International Society of Barristers. He has also been elected to Fellowship in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
He is heavily involved in continuing legal education and teaches for NITA, the California Continuing Education of the Bar, ABOTA , CAOC, SFTLA and The Rutter Group. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and serves as Program Director of that organization's San Francisco, New York and Colorado Teacher Training Programs.
He is a summa cum laude graduate of St. Mary's College of California and obtained his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1976.
