Michael Kelly
Shareholder | Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger
Michael Kelly is a wrongful death, medical malpractice and product liability trial lawyer and shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger in San Francisco, California. Admitted in California; J.D., University of California, Hastings College of the Law (1976).
Meet Michael
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26th Floor
San Francisco, California 94108
Michael A. Kelly, who goes by Mike, is a San Francisco, California, trial lawyer and shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger. Over four decades he has represented people in cases involving medical mistakes, defective consumer products, utility-caused wildfires, dangerous drugs and devices, truck and auto accidents and government wrongdoing.
According to the firm, Kelly has tried, settled and arbitrated more than 250 personal injury and wrongful death cases in which clients recovered more than $1 million. He helped secure the $13.5 billion resolution of the 2017 wine country wildfire lawsuits against PG&E, is co-lead liaison in the California Depo-Provera litigation against Pfizer and the paraquat litigation against Syngenta, and sits on the plaintiff attorneys’ steering committee in the Los Angeles Eaton Fire litigation.
Kelly earned a B.A. from St. Mary’s College of California in 1973 and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1976. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates. He served as president of the International Society of Barristers in 2012-13 and was named California ABOTA Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2014. In 2026 Consumer Watchdog gave him its Lifetime Legal Achievement Award.
He is a founding member of the executive board of Trial School, a nonprofit that teaches trial techniques to lawyers for injured victims, and has presented more than 200 invited lectures and seminars.
Experience and Expertise
Qualifications
Timeline
- St. Mary's College of California, B.A., summa cum laude (1973)
- J.D., University of California, Hastings College of the Law (1976)
- Admitted to the California Bar (1976)
Practice Areas
- Inner Circle of Advocates
- The Summit Council
- American College of Trial Lawyers (Fellow)
- International Academy of Trial Lawyers
- International Society of Barristers (Fellow; President, 2012-13)
- American Board of Trial Advocates (San Francisco Chapter President, 2010; National Board Member, 2002-14)
- San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (President, 1996)
- National Institute of Trial Advocacy (Board of Trustees, 2002-21)
- American Association for Justice
- Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
- Irish 100
- Consumer Watchdog Lifetime Legal Achievement Award (2026)
- Martindale-Hubbell AV Rating (annually since 1982)
- The Best Lawyers in America (1995-2024)
- Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year (2017, 2023, 2024)
- Top Ten Northern California Super Lawyers (2007-2012, 2017-2024)
- Lawdragon 500 (2014-2022)
- Lawdragon Hall of Fame
- National Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame (2022)
- California ABOTA Trial Lawyer of the Year (2014)
- San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association Trial Lawyer of the Year (2010)
- $13.5 Billion Settlement: PG&E NorCal wildfire litigation involving electrically triggered wildfires.
- Multiple Seven- and Eight-Figure Confidential Settlements: Thomas Fire litigation against Southern California Edison.
- $50 Million Settlement: Negligence and wrongful death of a mother; husband and children as plaintiffs.
- $43.5 Million Settlement: Brain injury to a suburban mom in a case against a big-rig trucker.
- $42 Million Settlement: Property defect resulting in quadriplegia for an urban tenant, against a real estate manager.
- $25 Million Settlement: Failure to supervise resulting in the death of a child at summer camp.
- $23.2 Million Jury Verdict: Rogers v. Associated Clinics: obstetric malpractice resulting in brain injury.
- $22 Million Settlement: Death of a mother in a case against an electrical utility.
- $18 Million Settlement: Truck versus auto collision causing pediatric brain injury.
- $17 Million Jury Verdict: Goodloe v. Bell Sports, Inc.: defective bicycle helmet causing brain injury.
- $16 Million Settlement: Recreational cyclist struck by a package delivery van in a wrongful death case.
- $16 Million Settlement: Truck versus auto freeway crash with multiple injuries.
- $15 Million Settlement: Rachel K. v. Truck Line Operator: bicycle versus semi-truck with catastrophic injuries.
- $15 Million Settlement: Wrongful death of a child in a playground injury case against a preschool operator.
- $14 Million Settlement: Tourist paraplegic after a fall on hotel premises at a Tahoe resort.
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