Chari Kelly
Office of the Attorney General of Texas
Education: J.D. 2002, The University of Texas School of Law; B.A. 1999, University of Florida, with High Honors
Ms. Kelly is an extended faculty member in the Advocacy Department, serving as a lecturer in the Fall Litigation Institute. She also coaches several interscholastic mock trial teams throughout the year.
After law school graduation, Ms. Kelly served as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corp (JAG) in the Trial Defense Service for nearly four years. During her time on active duty, Ms. Kelly represented over 150 soldiers facing trial by court-martial, including contested manslaughter and rape jury trials. She was assigned several cases with national media attention, including a detainee abuse case at the Bagram Airfield Detainee Facility in Afghanistan, and a Colombian drug smuggling and money laundering conspiracy case at Fort Bliss, Texas. Ms. Kelly also successfully tried the military’s first fetal manslaughter case, and was selected to present a course on the subject at the U.S. Army’s Trial Defense Service worldwide conference in 2006.
After leaving the military in 2007, Ms. Kelly worked as the Research Attorney for Judge Paul Womack, on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. In 2008, she joined Texas Attorney General’s Office in the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division, where she practices civil litigation.
Ms. Kelly is licensed in Texas and Florida, and admitted to the Western District of Texas, as well as the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.