Each month, the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (DEIC) will be highlighting diverse attorneys from within our community on the DEIC web page to recognize their achievements and contributions. This January, when we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 15, 2024), the DEIC is proud to shine a light on Hon. Angel Kelley, U.S. District Court judge for the District of Massachusetts.
Hon. Angel Kelley is a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Massachusetts. President Biden nominated her to the federal bench in 2021. Judge Kelley joined the federal judiciary after 12 years as a state court judge. While an associate justice of the Superior Court in Massachusetts, she served as the regional administrative judge for Plymouth County. Judge Kelley also served as a member of the Committee on Judicial Ethics and as chair of the Trial Court’s Public Outreach Committee. She led several initiatives to address racial inequities in the justice system to ensure greater access to and delivery of justice for all.
Judge Kelley is a graduate of Colgate University, earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and received an LL.M. from Temple University School of Law. Prior to her appointment to the Massachusetts Superior Court bench in 2013, she served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts District Court from 2009 to 2013. Judge Kelley had approximately 17 years of experience as a trial attorney and teacher before her judicial career began. She was an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston’s major crimes unit and taught at Harvard Law School after moving to Massachusetts in 2005. Before this, Judge Kelley spent a substantial portion of her legal career as a trial attorney engaged in public interest work in both civil and criminal defense in her home state of New York. She was assistant chief of the New York Litigation Division and senior trial attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s law department. She also served as a trial attorney for the Legal Aid Society Juvenile Rights Division in Brooklyn, New York.
Throughout her legal career, Judge Kelley has taught part time at various institutions, including Columbia University, New York University, the Port Authority Police Academy and the New York Civil Rights Coalition. Currently, Judge Kelley is an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Law and Suffolk University Law School, teaching trial advocacy skills. She regularly serves as guest faculty at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop, Emory Law’s Trial Techniques Program, and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) in Boston and New York City, as well as the national program.
Judge Kelley’s commitment to legal education extends beyond the U.S. borders and includes international educational programs. She has traveled to China to teach judges about the American jury system and has participated on an international panel about best practices in judicial ethics in Turkey. Judge Kelley has taught police officers, attorneys and judges in Liberia, Tanzania and Kenya about human trafficking, trial advocacy skills and judicial ethics. She serves on the board of trustees for the Flaschner Judicial Institute, Massachusetts’ leading judicial education organization. Judge Kelley also served on the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Lawyer Well-Being Committee.