J. Kelley is a senior partner in the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. Mr. Kelley’s practice includes a broad range of corporate finance transactions and securities matters, and he regularly advises public clients regarding SEC reporting and disclosure requirements, and other corporate governance and compliance matters.
Mr. Kelley has represented issuers and underwriters in a broad range of securities transactions, including initial and secondary public offerings, Rule 144A and Regulation S offerings, shelf offerings, exchange offers, tender offers and consent solicitations. His representations cover a large variety of products, including high yield debt, convertible debt, investment grade debt, American depositary shares, trust preferred securities and medium term note programs, as well as equity securities.
As part of his focus on corporate governance, Mr. Kelley has been instrumental in the firm’s creation, together with Tapestry Networks, of the Lead Director Network, a group of lead directors, presiding directors and non-executive chairmen from many of America’s leading companies that meets to discuss how to improve the performance of their corporations and earn the trust of their shareholders through more effective board leadership.
Mr. Kelley is also actively involved in the firm’s Real Estate Capital Markets Group, which includes mergers, acquisitions, funds formation and project developments with an emphasis on real estate securitizations. Mr. Kelley has been involved in many of the leading REIT merger transactions over the last several years.
Mr. Kelley has served two terms on King & Spalding’s governing Policy Committee and has served in numerous other leadership positions at the firm including most recently as Chair of the Corporate Practice Group for seven years.
Mr. Kelley has been recognized as one of The Best Lawyers in America, one of America’s Leading Lawyers by Chambers, and one of Georgia’s Super Lawyers by Atlanta Magazine.
Mr. Kelley graduated, summa cum laude, from Hamilton College in 1982 where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Kelley received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1985.
