Sean Kelly is an associate at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.
At KHF, Sean’s practice is focused on white-collar and regulatory enforcement, including internal investigations and individual representations.
Sean joined the firm after completing a clerkship with the Honorable Nicholas G. Garaufis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Prior to his clerkship, Sean was an associate at Clifford Chance, where he was a member of a cross-border team representing a UK tech executive facing fraud charges in connection with the multibillion-dollar sale of his company. He also maintained an active pro bono practice focused on advising international non-governmental organizations in support of their advocacy for human rights.
Notably, Sean represented a pro bono client charged in the Eastern District of Virginia with wire fraud in connection with a large government contract to recruit linguists for the US military. He successfully argued the motion that resulted in the dismissal of this unjustified indictment based on a violation of his client’s Due Process right against pre-indictment delay – a rare outcome, with this being the first such dismissal based on pre-indictment delay in the that district since 1983, and the first in any federal court since 2013.
Sean was part of the legal team that successfully represented writer E. Jean Carroll in her sexual battery and defamation suit against Donald Trump, securing a $5 million jury verdict on her behalf after under three hours of deliberations.
Sean previously interned with the Honorable Joseph F. Bianco of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Sean received his J.D., magna cum laude, from St. John’s University School of Law. He served as Managing Editor of the St. John’s Law Review and Journal of Catholic Legal Studies. While there, Sean received a wide range of awards and honors, including First Prize in the American Bankruptcy Institute 2018 Law Student Writing Competition, the Justice Harold Birns Award, the Springer Legislative Award, and the St. Thomas More Scholarship. Sean received his B.A. from Florida State University.
