Mary E. Kelly

For more than 30 years, Mary has represented employees in State and Federal Court and in front of the Department of Labor, the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has litigated a wide range of claims of discrimination and retaliation, including issues involving age, sex, race, pregnancy and disability discrimination. In recent years, Mary has worked with many employees who have been denied accommodations or discriminated against because of disabilities. In several cases, Mary has been able to help employees with disabilities return to work so that they were able to continue to support themselves and their families. Her knowledge in this area has been recognized by her peers, as she has been asked to address accommodation issues under the ADA by various organizations, including the AFL-CIO attorneys' organization.

Mary also regularly speaks to plaintiff-side employment lawyers about litigation strategy, including how to survive summary judgment motions and how to conduct successful discovery. One of the difficult hurdles that employees face in court is the threat of "summary judgment," a procedure that gives a judge the authority to decide a case against the employee before the case can be heard by a jury. Mary has been successful in surviving many motions for summary judgment and believes that this is the result of thoughtful case selection, exhaustive discovery, and carefully crafted motions and legal arguments.

Mary's commitment to working for the rights of employees was learned from her parents. Her father, Paul Kelly, was an organizer for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, while her mother, Karen, was a feminist who worked as a bookkeeper in a law firm. Mary contends that, given this pedigree, it was inevitable that she would become a labor and employment lawyer.