Kelly joined Dunkiel Saunders in 2013 and brings with him almost twenty years of experience working on state and federal environmental matters, multi-state business ventures, and complex commercial transactions. Over his career, Kelly has provided legal services to a wide range of clients, including public entities, private companies, and non-profit organizations. In each matter he handles, Kelly uses his diverse background to deliver valuable, perceptive, and practical legal counsel to help his clients achieve their objectives.
In the environmental field, Kelly focuses primarily on water law, hazardous waste cleanup, regulatory compliance, and environmental enforcement In commercial and business transactions, he handles a wide variety of subject matter, including selection of appropriate corporate structures for a client's needs, financing of business enterprises, acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate, and resolution of disputes encountered in the everyday business world.
Kelly's practice has allowed him to participate directly in matters in both Vermont and South Carolina (he is licensed in both jurisdictions), and he has been instrumental assisting clients with projects and major developments from Florida to New England to southern California to Washington, and just about everywhere in between. This geographic breadth of activity has given him the opportunity, and fostered the ability, to adapt to the specific needs of his clients' projects while accommodating the relevant regulatory requirements of local, state, and federal regulatory bodies.
Kelly has enjoyed a wide range of positions within the practice of law, giving him a firm foundation for advising clients. He has been lead counsel for a state regulatory authority, compelling enforcement with environmental laws and regulations, and ensuring compliance from the governmental side. He has also been general counsel to one of Vermont's oldest environmental organizations, providing legal advice on issues related to corporate governance, litigating difficult issues of major public concern, and lobbying state and federal legislative delegations to promote positive environmental policies. Finally, as a member of a private law firm for a decade, Kelly has been lead counsel for developer clients seeking to complete complex projects across the United States, and he has acted as outside general counsel to a client with almost a billion dollars in project capital. In short, he knows the legal system from the governmental side, the non-profit side, and the private side. This depth of experience helps clients when evaluating how best to proceed with any given project.
In addition to his legal career, Kelly has enjoyed varied business, eleemosynary, and educational interests. He is the founder and president of a bicycle manufacturing company that specializes in producing customized carbon fiber riding and racing bicycles. He is also a founding member of a non-profit organization — globalbike, inc. — that focuses on creating a global community where people are connected to the resources necessary for social and economic prosperity through the provision of bicycles, a utility of convenience and recreation for much of the world but essential for survival in less developed parts of the world. Finally, he has continued to pursue his interest in higher education, teaching philosophy at Wofford College, a leading liberal arts college in South Carolina, and teaching environmental law at Vermont Law School.
