Don Keenan
Painting a subject without their knowing it, a surprise portrait, is always fraught with danger… and in the case of Don Keenan, doubly so. A larger than life character, electrifying, the trial lawyer community with his “Reptile Theory” of practice, a TV personality, renowned children’s advocate, often to be found unshaved wearing shorts, T-shirt, and always those sunglasses. An ex-marine of Irish blood and creator of the Kids Foundation and Bono aficionado. All this and more went into this painting. It was with relief that I saw it was warmly and enthusiastically received at its unveiling in Houston. Kudos to the courage of the man brave enough to commission this painting!
Painting a subject without their knowing it, a surprise portrait, is always fraught with danger… and in the case of Don Keenan, doubly so. A larger than life character, electrifying, the trial lawyer community with his “Reptile Theory” of practice, a TV personality, renowned children’s advocate, often to be found unshaved wearing shorts, T-shirt, and always those sunglasses. An ex-marine of Irish blood and creator of the Kids Foundation and Bono aficionado. All this and more went into this painting. It was with relief that I saw it was warmly and enthusiastically received at its unveiling in Houston. Kudos to the courage of the man brave enough to commission this painting!
Don Keenan
Keenan, Don. 16" x 20". 2015. Collection of Keenan Law Firm. Atlanta, GA. Portrait on canvas. Commissioned by HMR Funding, Dean Chase.
Keenan, Don. 16" x 20". 2015. Collection of Keenan Law Firm. Atlanta, GA. Portrait on canvas. Commissioned by HMR Funding, Dean Chase.
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Mike Kelly
Mike Kelly consistently figures in the top tier of lawyers in the country in cases involving personal injury, auto and trucking accidents, wrongful death, brain injury, paralysis and medical malpractice. When resolution by mediation or settlement fails, Kelly is ready to take cases before juries, winning over four decades of multiple outstanding verdicts for his client's and their families.
A summa cum laude graduate from St. Mary’s College of California he obtained his law degree from the University of California in 1976 and was an Assistant Professor of Law at Hastings from 1981 – 2001.
His many contributions to the legal community include more than two hundred lectures, tutorials, presentations, seminars and advocacy demonstrations across the United States, Asia, South America, the United Kingdom and Eastern Europe. He served for ten years as the Director of Teacher Training programs for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, has long been active in protecting the rights of the underrepresented, working for pedestrian and bicyclist safety, lobbying for compensation fairness for medical malpractice victims and protecting the rights of the LGBT community.
Astoundingly he is an elected member of the prestigious Inner Circle of Advocates, the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, The Summit Counsel and The Irish 100.
Mike Kelly Original painting 2020. In collection of Walkup Melodia. San Francisco, California
He has served on the National Board of ABOTA and in 2014, he was selected as the “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the California Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates adding one more accolade to his exhaustive list of honours and awards.
2020 is a year that typifies the quality, character, commitment and achievements of Mike Kelly's long and highly successful career, when in July, his San Francisco law firm, Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, proudly announced that Super Lawyers had recognized their Senior Partner as the number one vote-getter on its list of 2020’s Top Ten Super Lawyers in Northern California. The prestigious honour came on the heels of Kelly’s work leading the litigation against the nation’s largest investor-owned utility, PG&E, for damages to residents of six North Bay counties and Butte County caused by the utility triggering Northern California wildfires. The PG&E bankruptcy case, concluded recently on behalf of wildfire victims, is the largest Tort Bankruptcy in U.S. history – with overall payment to victims totalling $13.5 billion.
"I love what I do" says Mike Kelly, the master communicator, hilariously funny speaker and all round brilliant trial lawyer!