Kelly Florio has been an attorney and a litigator for over 25 years, both in the public and private sectors. She began her career in private practice as an associate at Reed Smith LLP, where she represented school boards with respect to general and special education issues. She then transitioned to the United States Attorney’s Office, first in the Eastern District of New York and then in the District of New Jersey, where she focused on a number of areas that directly impact schools, including employment discrimination, disability rights, religious discrimination, first amendment issues, race, color and national origin discrimination, Title VI, and bullying. Kelly is accomplished both inside and outside of the courtroom, and has won several significant awards for her work in the area of civil rights, among them the Assistant Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award and the Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division.

Kelly is also a seasoned counselor and trainer, serving for over 15 years as an instructor and courtroom leader at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center, heading the civil division training committees at both U.S. Attorney’s offices, and performing extensive civil rights outreach on various topics in New York and New Jersey.