Colin K. Kelly
Georgia
Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
1230 Peachtree St.,
Suite 1200
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel: 470.867.6012
Email:
ckelly@shb.com
Web:
www.shb.com
Colin is the office Managing Partner of Shook, Hardy & Bacon’s Atlanta, Georgia office. He focuses his practice on defending consumer product and manufacturing companies against product liability, mass/toxic tort and commercial litigation matters.
Colin has significant experience in bet-the-company crisis management and was on the team that defended the largest industrial disaster in Georgia. Colin has provided individual counseling and class action strategies for companies of all sizes faced with false labeling claims by state agencies in California and consumers in Florida and New York, particularly in the area of eco-friendly or “natural” products.
He has a history of trying difficult cases in difficult places. Colin has served as national trial counsel to chemical, automotive and consumer product manufacturers for more than twenty years in some of the most hostile jurisdictions in the country for large companies.
Beyond consumer product defense work, he has litigated high stakes litigation matters for more than 20 different Fortune 500 companies and has prepared cases for trial in 45 states. He was part of the Enron Bankruptcy Examiner’s team and has done adversary proceeding litigation and receivership counseling work. Colin has handled every aspect of litigation from pre-suit counseling and early resolution to jury trials and appeals.
For eight years, Georgia Super Lawyers has named Colin a Rising Star in class action and mass tort. He also was named “Toxic Torts Lawyer of the Year” in Lawyer Monthly’s Legal Awards in both 2013 and 2014. In addition, Colin was selected for the 2019 class of Leadership Atlanta, one of the oldest community leadership development organizations in the country, along with 88 other business executives, community leaders, educators, lawyers and entrepreneurs. Colin serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Truancy Intervention Project, Inc. and has represented more than 50 children in Atlanta juvenile court proceedings.
- Leadership Atlanta Class of 2019
- Georgia Super Lawyers, Rising Star (2005, 2009-2015, 2020)
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Top Rated Lawyer (2015)
- Lawyer Monthly, Toxic Tort Lawyer of the Year (2013, 2014)
- State Bar of Georgia
- Outstanding Service to the Profession (2015)
- Outstanding Service to the Public (2008-2009)
- Young Lawyers Division Leadership Academy (2007)
- Truancy Intervention Project of Georgia Pro Bono Attorney of the Year (2003)
- J.D., West Virginia University College of Law, 2001
- Order of the Coif
- Order of the Barristers
- West Virginia Law Review, Editor
- Patrick Duffey Koontz Award for Leadership and Scholarship
- 2001 West Virginia Trial Competition Champion
- B.A., Davidson College, 1998 (Political Science)
- Chair, Student Conduct Review Board
In the realm of product liability defense, few—if any—firms compare to Shook, Hardy & Bacon. Shook knows how to protect your bottom line and your product’s reputation when it is called into question. We offer the total package: the knowledge and experience to assess and develop the best defense strategy and themes available; an in-house team of scientists and other individuals with advanced degrees to help prepare the expert-related aspects of the case; and the largest team of product-liability trial lawyers in the country. We are always mindful of the need for cost-effective solutions and case management throughout the course of representation.
Our client relationships speak strongly to our long history of winning the product liability cases entrusted to us. We have represented some of our largest and most prestigious clients for more than three decades, and in one instance, for more than six decades. These companies repeatedly select us to handle their most complex and contentious product liability cases, from MDLs, class actions, mass actions and multi-jurisdiction onslaughts of individual cases, right down to challenging individual cases. Shook also advises on and implements nationwide and international product recalls when necessary. Our clients include the manufacturers of automobiles, consumer goods, food and beverages, pet care and animal health products, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
The firm has leveraged its complex products liability litigation expertise to expand into several other practice areas and advance its mission of “being the best in the world at providing creative and practical solutions at unsurpassed value.” As a result, the firm has built nationally recognized practices in areas such as intellectual property, environmental and toxic tort, employment litigation, commercial litigation, government enforcement and compliance, and public policy.