Kelly was admitted to practice in Massachusetts in 1973 and in the same year in Maine in both the Federal and State courts. He is a member of the Maine State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and raised in Massillon, Ohio, West Hartford, Connecticut (where he graduated from high school), and a Cleveland suburb. During his college years he worked as a merchant mariner on ore boats in the Great Lakes. After graduation from college he was employed for a short time by CBS News in Paris, France, before teaching high school in Lewiston, Maine.
Kelly has served the City of Auburn in various capacities, including serving on the School Board, the Planning Board, as a Trustee of the Auburn Public LIbrary, and on the City Council as the elected Councilor-At-Large. Additionally, he served the State of Maine as a Commissioner of the Maine State Housing Authority and the founding Chair of the Maine Housing Investment Fund (now the Northern New England Housing Investment Fund), an equity fund that utilizes the low income housing tax credit.
Kelly currently serves on the board of directors of Auburn Savings Bank and of the Finance Authority of Maine where he is the Chairman.
Married with two adult children, Kelly resides in Auburn, Maine. His areas of practice include commercial transactions where he represents many local lending institutions and borrowers, real estate, and business entities.