Genevieve McCarthy Kelly gained extensive civil litigation experience directly from law school at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she defended United States agencies against individual and class action suits in twenty different federal district courts and ten federal courts of appeals. She also gained experience working with DOJ’s Civil Rights Division prosecuting institutions for federal Civil Rights Act violations. Her cases—many of which involved novel questions of administrative and constitutional law—have often resulted in precedential opinions and been reported in national news outlets.
Prior to joining Torridon, Genevieve served as Associate Deputy Director for Enforcement and, later, Chief of Staff at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. There she oversaw enforcement and policy matters related to race, color, national origin, disability, age, and sex discrimination, as well as religious freedom and privacy.
Before attending law school, Genevieve co-founded a college-prep high school that exclusively serves economically disadvantaged students.
At Torridon, Genevieve draws on her experience developing case law in the lower and appellate courts to help find creative solutions for clients facing a wide variety of challenges and legal questions. She also draws on her extensive leadership experience overseeing government investigations to defend companies, universities, and other institutions from government investigations.
Awards and Publications
- Department of Justice’s John W. Douglas Award for Pro Bono Service
- How The Supreme Court Can Improve Educational Opportunities for African American and Hispanic Students by Ruling Against Harvard College’s Use of Race Data, 55 U. Mich. J. L. Reform Caveat 1 (2021)
- A Short-lived Benchmark: How the Supreme Court Debilitated Brown v. Board Long before Parents Involved, 19 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 813 (2012)