Kelly J.Koelker

Senior Counsel

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More About Kelly

Kelly joined the firm with more than two decades of experience representing and counseling employers on a broad range of legal issues, including wage-hour compliance and litigation, employee testing and selection procedures, employment discrimination individual and class actions, employee privacy, and reductions in force.

Kelly has carved out a reputation for tackling complex issues arising both in compliance contexts and in motions and appellate briefs that require marshaling large factual records and presenting innovative legal arguments. She has handled numerous EEOC charges and enforcement actions alleging adverse impact discrimination based on testing and other employee selection procedures. While Kelly's practice focuses primarily on litigation matters, she is equally experienced counseling employers on best practices, policies, and procedures to comply with their obligations under statutes such as Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Kelly has an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell, and was voted as a Top Georgia Attorney in Appellate Practice in 2012 and among The Best Lawyers in America in 2019 and 2020 (Woodward/White Inc.).

When she is not practicing law, Kelly is most likely to be found at a sporting event, ranging from professional baseball, to college football, to beachside Ultimate Frisbee. Kelly actively volunteers for various charitable and civic causes, and previously served on the boards of directors for the Georgia Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Atlanta. She is an avid singer and piano player and has twice served as the Musical Director for the Atlanta Bar Association's charitable "Bard Show."

  • JD, Duke University School of Law

    With honors
    Law & Contemporary Problems, executive editor

  • MA, The Ohio State University
  • BA, The Ohio State University

    Summa cum laude

  • California
  • Georgia
  • US Supreme Court
  • US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
  • US District Court, Northern District of Georgia
  • Supreme Court of Georgia
  • Georgia Court of Appeals
  • Georgia Superior Courts