About Dave
Dave Kelly built a career that moves between military service, courtrooms and bankruptcy practice. He began in uniform. A 1969 commission signed by President Richard Nixon led to service as a legal officer and personnel administrator with CBMU 302. He also served as an instructor at the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School in 1970.
He graduated from the University of Saint Thomas in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in history and social studies education. He later earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, completing law school in 1975. Those formative years combined classroom study and practical legal work that would shape his early professional choices.
While still connected to his naval duties and law studies, Kelly took on clerkships that exposed him to trial practice and public defense work. In 1973 he worked as a law clerk for the Minnesota State Public Defender. The following year he served as a law clerk to the United States Lawyer for the District of Minnesota. Those roles gave him firsthand experience in criminal defense and federal practice.
After law school he continued to broaden his practice. In 1980 he volunteered as a lawyer for the Chrysalis Center for Women, representing clients in matters tied to family and social services. In 1987 he served as an arbitrator for Hennepin County Family Court, helping resolve disputes outside of a formal trial setting. Over time his caseload and professional interests moved steadily toward consumer insolvency matters.
Kelly has been a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association since 1976 and joined the Hennepin County Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Section in 1977. He became a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers in 2006 and remains active in those groups. He is admitted to practice in Minnesota and before the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
He does not hold any specific state certification in bankruptcy; Minnesota does not offer a separate bankruptcy certification. That fact has not altered the scope of the matters he handles, but it is part of the professional landscape for consumer bankruptcy attorneys in the state.
Today Kelly maintains a practice in Minnesota that handles consumer bankruptcy and related federal filings. He continues to take on cases rooted in personal financial distress and procedural work in federal court.
