Peter Kelly-Smith

I was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. After obtaining my undergraduate degree in Legal Studies and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I worked for the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office as a paralegal in their Criminal Litigation Unit. Ultimately, my now-wife and I moved to Minneapolis for me to attend the University of Minnesota Law School (Cum Laude 2021). While in law school, I jumped around between numerous positions involving civil rights and criminal defense. I am grateful to have worked with organizations like the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, and the Federal Defenders for the District of Minnesota. 

Following law school, I worked as a judicial clerk for three different judges: the Honorable Daniel Moreno (a Minnesota trial-court judge), the Honorable Elise Larson (a Minnesota Court of Appeals judge), and from 2023 to 2025, the Honorable Pamela Pepper (the chief federal judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin). These various clerkships provided me insight on how judges evaluate a case at each stage in the litigation process. 

At the end of the day, I entered the practice of law because I want to help people. Our legal system can be confusing and frustrating, so it is my goal to assist clients in navigating this system and obtain the justice they deserve.

Favorite Book: “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius

If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you do?
If I wasn’t a lawyer, I would probably be a social psychologist because I love to figure out how people think and determine how groups may affect the way people act.