The Kelly Law Offices Legal Team

Paul S. Kelly

Founding Attorney

Legal Field:

• Workers' Compensation
• WC & Insurance Defense

Biography:

Atty. Kelly grew up with his family in Quincy, Massachusetts.  His mother was a school teacher 

and his father the managing partner of a major Boston law firm.  Paul graduated from Boston College High School, Tufts University and Suffolk University Law School.  Paul lives with his wife, Claire, in the Pinehills community in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Education:

Atty. Kelly earned a Bachelor of Science degree, BSME, in Mechanical Engineering, graduating from Tufts University in 1982.

In 1988-1990, Atty. Kelly was in the business management graduate program at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

In May 1994, Paul earned his law degree, juris doctor, graduating cum laude, at Suffolk University Law School, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Atty. Kelly was selected to represent Suffolk University Law School in a series of national trial and appellate law competitions.  Paul also received "American Jurisprudence" awards for earning the top grade in law school classes including awards in torts, criminal law, and trial litigation practice.

At the law school graduation, Atty Kelly was selected by the law school faculty as the "Outstanding Student of the Law School Class".

Bar Admissions:

Atty. Kelly is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Paul is also licensed to practice law in the State of New York.

Experience:

In 1982-1994, Atty. Kelly worked as a claim representative, supervisor and claim manager handling workers' compensation claim programs for large, high-profile insurers in Massachusetts.

Paul worked at Commercial Union Insurance Company, ACE-Cigna, Frank B. Hall Risk Management and ESIS.  At ESIS, Paul was the assistant manager on the MIIA account, managing a WC program of 212 cities and towns in Massachusetts.  Atty. Kelly also was instrumental in saving a high-profile self-insurer an estimated thirty million dollars ($30,000,000.00), over an eight year timeframe via focused and aggressive management of its workers' compensation claim program in Massachusetts.

Atty. Kelly founded the law firm in December 1994 and has been dedicated for the past 29-30 years to aggressive litigation and management of Massachusetts workers' compensation defense matters for major companies at the Department of Industrial Accidents, the Massachusetts Reviewing Board the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Massachusetts Supreme Judical Court.

Success Stories

Supreme Judicial Court:

Atty Kelly successfully litigated two major workers' compensation cases that were decided at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

The first case, Ives Camargo v. Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, remains one of the most significant cases in workers' compensation law in Massachusetts in the last thirty (30) years.

The second case, Gregory Jones v. National Grid, was a successful deflection of a case grounded in "last-insurer-on-the-risk" case law, an uphill battle, and a fantastic result, defending the interests of National Grid on a complex and complicated Lyme disease exposure case.

        Ives Camargo Case:

                Ives Camargo v. Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, Inc.

                Workers' Compensation; Independent Contractor Case

                Supreme Court:  479 Mass. 492 (2018)

        Gregory Jones Case:

                Gregory Jones v. NStar & National Grid

                Workers' Compensation; Lyme Disease; Last Insurer on Risk

                Appeals Court:   93 Mass.App.Ct. 1112, 103 N.E. 2d 1240 (2018)

                Supreme Court:  Docket No. FAR-26178 (2018)

Fun & Real World:

When not in "work-world", you might find Atty. Kelly in fitness classes at a boxing gym in South Boston or on golf trips with friends to Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Hilton Head and Kiawah Island in South Carolina.  Paul loves the University of Florida, and trips to "The Swamp" with his wife, Claire, and sons, Matt & Drew, who graduated as "Florida Gators" in 2021.  Atty. Kelly's life is centered on his parents and spending time with Claire and family in Florida, Massachusetts and the Carolinas.