William J. Kelly III
Recognized since 2022
Denver, Colorado
Practice Areas
Commercial Litigation
Litigation - Labor and Employment
William “Bill” is the founding member of Kelly Law Partners, LLC whose commercial and employment litigation practice focuses on national and regional litigation for business clients. In response to a survey of Fortune 500 General Counsel, Bill has been named a “BTI Client Services All Star” for 4 consecutive years. He is also the sole Colorado recipient of the “Lexology Client Choice Award in Litigation” for 2017, a national survey of in-house counsel. Bill’s commercial litigation trial experience includes class actions, vicarious liability, professional liability, non-compete and trade secret litigation, breach of contract and indemnity litigation, multi-thousand member environmental and mass tort actions, ad valorem tax assessment litigation and mass-claim complex insurance coverage litigation. He acts as national class counsel to a national property and casualty insurer, as regional litigation counsel to an international wholesaler and retailer, as regional counsel to a REIT in connection with its commercial property operations, and as national litigation counsel to two international franchisors. In employment litigation, Bill serves as national or regional employment counsel to several national employers. He has served as national employment counsel to a Fortune 25 Global company, provided advice and consultation on federal and state pre-litigation matters inclusive of wage and hour, medical leave, discrimination and accommodation matters. He has been lead counsel in hearings before federal and state agencies and commissions nationwide. He litigates age, race, religious, national origin and retaliation claims, collective actions, infringement, trade secret and non-competes in federal and state courts around the country. His technology practice has included litigation over technologies, trade secrets, trademarks, and litigating commercial cases surrounding licenses and technology. He has also performed transactional work in drafting and negotiating software licenses, and professional service agreements.
Contact & Links
Location
- 501 South Cherry Street, Suite 1100
Denver, CO 80246
Languages
- English
Demographics
- Gender: Male
Education
- Saint Louis University, Juris Doctorate, graduated 1992
- Tulane University, BA - English, graduated 1989
Bar Admissions
- Colorado, 6/1/2007
- Louisiana, 10/16/1992
- Illinois, 12/28/2017
Affiliations
- Cottonwood Institute - Former Board Member
- International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) - Member
- Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) - Member of the Litigation Group
- Professional Liability Attorney Network (PLAN) - Former Member
- Tulane Alumni Association - Member
Court Admissions
- Supreme Court of the United States
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- United States District Court for the District of Colorado
- United States District Court for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana
- United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois
- United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
Denver, Colorado
4 The Best Lawyers in America® awards
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2025 for work in:
- Commercial Litigation
- Litigation - Labor and Employment
Awards:
- Super Lawyers
- AV Distinguished
- AV Preeminent
- BTI Client Service All-Stars 2017
- BTI Client Services MVP 2017
- Lexology Client Choice Award 2017
Additional Areas of Practice:
- Copyright Law
- Employment Law - Individuals
- Employment Law - Management
- Labor Law - Management
- Labor Law - Union
- Litigation - Insurance
- Litigation - Intellectual Property
- Litigation - Patent
- Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
- Patent Law
- Trademark Law
Publications
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