Matthew E. Kelley

atthew Kelley is an advocate for injured persons and their families.  He focuses his personal injury practice on medical malpractice, birth injury, severe personal injury, products liability, and food borne illness cases.  Matthew listens to his clients, learns about their lives, and effectively uses the legal process to help.  He carefully selects his cases to identify early on the cases that have merit.

Matthew brings unique legal perspective to his clients’ claims.  Before joining MichieHamlett, he was a leading defense trial attorney and thought leader for the defense bar for 15 years.  He understands how insurance companies and defense lawyers evaluate which cases to resolve with a monetary payment to the plaintiff and which cases will be defended through trial.  Matthew’s industry experience and professional relationships allow him to posture his clients’ cases for settlement to try and avoid the financial risks and stress of trial.

But, if a case needs to be tried, Matthew is ready to tell his client’s story to a jury.  He is frequently in trial and has tried complex cases in Virginia and North Carolina.  He regularly takes cases involving multi-million-dollar damages claims to trial and has a distinguished trial record in both State and Federal court.  His prior experience defending claims allows him rare insight on what the defense will likely do during trial.  In fact, he has previously authored the defense trial strategy chapter for the Virginia CLE treatise Medical Malpractice Law in Virginia.

His clients benefit from his scientific knowledge.  He has prior experience as a cancer researcher in the Department of Pathology at the University of Virginia Health Sciences system, advanced training in biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University, and many years of experience developing and protecting intellectual property related to new pharmaceutical compounds, medical devices, and biotechnological therapeutics. Matthew understands the medical and scientific issues in his cases.

Outside of work, Matthew enjoys spending time with his wife and their three children.  He is passionate about greyhounds and is fortunate to have two retired racers as part of his home.  Matthew coaches youth lacrosse and serves on the board for the Roanoke Valley Ladies Lacrosse Association.  He enjoys traveling, live music, and action movies (even the bad ones).

Matthew has lived and worked throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and District of Columbia.  He is based in Roanoke, Virginia, but handles matters throughout the Commonwealth (including Southwestern Virginia, Northern Virginia, Richmond, and the Tidewater area) and the Mid-Atlantic region.  For a confidential consultation, please contact Matthew Kelley’s office.

• Johns Hopkins University (M.S. Biotechnology)
• George Mason University School of Law (J.D.)
  • George Mason University Law Review, Associate Editor
  • George Mason University Writing Fellow
• University of Virginia (B.A. Biology)

• Virginia
• West Virginia
• District of Columbia
• United States Patent and Trademark Office
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Supreme Court of Virginia
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
• United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia
• United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

• Samuel Bernier and Matthew Kelley, “Defending Advanced Practitioners in the Age of Telemedicine and Expanding Autonomy,” Journal of Civil Litigation, (Spring 2022) (awarded 2022 article of the year).
• Matthew Kelley and Katie DeCoster, “Reviving the Illegality Defense for Opioid Overdose Lawsuits,” Journal of Civil Litigation (Fall 2017).
• Steven Ludwig and Matthew Kelley, “Patent Life Cycle Management: Patenting Improvements After KSR Int’l v. Teleflex,” BioProcess International, Vol. 5, No. 8: p 92, September 2007.
• Steven Ludwig and Matthew Kelley, “Patent-centric Biotech Business Model Threatened by Court Rulings,” Baltimore Business Journal, February 2007.
• Eric Steffe and Matthew Kelley, “Intersection Between Biodefense and Patent Law: Federal Research Grants,” Project Bioshield, and 28 USC § 1498(a), Biotechnology Law Reporter, June 2005.

• Member – Virginia Trial Lawyers Association
• Member – Roanoke Bar Association
• Master of the Bench – The Ted Dalton American Inn of Court