Prestigious National Trial Lawyers Group Bestows Honor on Delaware-Based Chair of McCarter & English with High-Visibility National Practice
WILMINGTON, DE – The American College of Trial Lawyers, the exclusive 65-year-old organization that recognizes only a handful of litigators for masterful advocacy, ethical conduct, professionalism and civility, has admitted Michael P. Kelly, chairman of McCarter & English, to its ranks of 2015 inductees.
Kelly, a Wilmington-based trial attorney who represents clients in courtrooms nationwide, joined fewer than 6,000 trial lawyers nationwide – fewer than one percent of attorneys in any state or Canadian province – as a fellow of the invitation-only group, one of the premier legal associations in the nation.
“The College’s decision to include me as a Fellow truly humbles me,” said Kelly, who has taken to trial hundreds of cases, many of them high-profile and high-stakes, in state and federal courts nationwide, as well as more than 20 appeals before the Delaware Supreme Court. “There is no more prestigious organization for a trial lawyer, and I am truly honored to be included.”
The College, composed of plaintiff- and defense-side civil litigators as well as prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys, seeks to elevate the standards of trial practice, the administration of justice and the ethics of the legal profession.
Kelly routinely litigates commercial and other civil disputes, shareholder suits, toxic torts, products liability, environmental and intellectual property cases.
His most recent success, in Cigna v. Audax, in Delaware Chancery Court, made new law. He brought suit on behalf of Cigna – a holder of preferred shares of Audax – whose shares were extinguished by a merger. He secured a declaration in December 2014 that permitted Cigna to tender its shares and receive merger consideration with adopting conditions imposed by the buyer. He is perhaps best known for serving as a lead trial attorney and chief settlement counsel in the landmark Seroquel litigation, one of the largest pharmaceutical mass tort suits ever, on behalf of AstraZeneca.
Kelly is a 1983 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law, which he attended after receiving his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University. He spends his time working in each of McCarter’s nine offices and resides in Wilmington with his wife and two children.