Angel Kelley (born 1967) is an American attorney and judge serving as a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was hel ...

. She is a former associate justice of the

Massachusetts Superior Court The Massachusetts Superior Court (also known as the Superior Court Department of the Trial Court) is a trial court department in Massachusetts. The Superior Court has original jurisdiction in civil actions over $50,000, and in matters where equita ...

Education

Kelley received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

in 1989, her

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

in trial advocacy from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

in 2003, and her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 1992."President Biden Announces Third Slate of Judicial Nominees", White House, May 12, 2021

Legal and academic career

Kelley began her legal career as a staff attorney at

The Legal Aid Society The Legal Aid Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal aid provider based in New York City. Founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest provider of legal aid in the United States. Its attorneys provide representation on criminal and civil m ...

in the Juvenile Rights Division in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

from 1993 to 1997. From 1997 to 2005, she was an attorney for the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

. From 2007 to 2009, Kelley served as an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

for the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. From 1992 to 2005, she was a part-time instructor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. From 2004 to 2005 she was a part-time instructor at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. From 2005 to 2007, she was a clinical instructor at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

. Since 2012, she has been a part-time

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

Suffolk University Law School Suffolk University Law School (also known as Suffolk Law School) is the private, non-sectarian law school of Suffolk University located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, across the street from the Boston Common and the Freedom Trail, two block ...

. Since 2016, she has been a volunteer instructor at

Emory University School of Law Emory University School of Law is the law school of Emory University and is part of the University's main campus in Druid Hills, Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1916 and was the first law school in Georgia to be granted membership in the Am ...

and since 2018, she has been a part-time adjunct professor at

Boston University School of Law Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an eli ...

Judicial career

State judicial service

In 2009, she was appointed to the

Massachusetts District Court The Massachusetts District Court (also known as the District Court Department of the Trial Court) is a trial court in Massachusetts that hears a wide range of criminal, civil, housing, juvenile, mental health, and other types of cases. Distr ...

by Governor

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...

and sworn in on September 17, 2010. On January 4, 2013, she was nominated to be a judge of the Massachusetts Superior Court and confirmed to the position on January 24, 2013, in a 6–2 vote.

Federal judicial service

On May 12, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Kelley to serve as a

for the

to the seat vacated by Judge

Douglas P. Woodlock Douglas Preston Woodlock (born February 27, 1947) is a United States federal judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Born in Connecticut, Woodlock graduated from Yale College and worked as a journalist befo ...

, who assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on June 1, 2015. On June 23, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...

. On July 22, 2021, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 15–7 vote. On September 14, 2021, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

invoked cloture on her nomination by a 52-43 vote. Her nomination was confirmed later that day by a 52–44 vote. She received her judicial commission on September 15, 2021, and was sworn in the same day. She is the second African American female judge and the second Asian American judge to serve on the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Angel 1967 births 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women judges African-American judges American jurists of Asian descent Assistant United States Attorneys Boston University School of Law faculty Colgate University alumni Columbia University faculty Georgetown University Law Center alumni Harvard Law School faculty Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Living people Massachusetts lawyers Massachusetts state court judges New York University faculty People from New Rochelle, New York Suffolk University Law School faculty Temple University Beasley School of Law alumni United States district court judges appointed by Joe Biden Emory University School of Law faculty