Meet Volunteer Attorney Jerry Kelly

Jerry Kelly

Long before he volunteered with Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, Jerry Kelly had a relationship with Exodus Refugee, even serving on their Board for a period of seven years. After stepping down from the Board, he continued to serve as a regular volunteer in their offices. “In doing that, I got exposed to some of the immigration services that Exodus provides, like green card applications.” Soon, through this work, Jerry was introduced to the Legal Clinic.

Born and raised in Michigan, Jerry went to law school and eventually moved to Indianapolis for a career in healthcare law, much of it spent working for IU Health. “[I did] all kinds of work related to regulatory compliance, and mergers and acquisitions, and corporate law,” he says. “Only occasionally did I have to get involved with immigration law and it was always something sort of mundane like an I-9 form or something employment related like that.”

But after entering retirement, Jerry found he had a desire to learn more. “I came into this pro bono stuff knowing next to nothing about immigration law,” he says. “Immigration law is as varied and technical and complicated as healthcare law is. I knew enough to know how much I didn’t know. But having the support of the [Clinic] staff makes all the difference and you just kind of take baby steps. And you just get more and more comfortable with the different parts of it.”

And so Jerry took his time, attending several different trainings and workshops on various aspects of immigration law through the Clinic. When he felt more confident in his knowledge, he started taking on immigration cases as a volunteer attorney. Jerry helped a woman apply for a renewal of her DACA status (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and he assisted another with applying for citizenship.

Currently, Jerry is working on an asylum case—his second of this type—for a woman and her children so that they can find safety and stability after fleeing persecution in their home country. There have been many roadblocks with this particular case, but Jerry and his client enjoyed a recent victory with her being approved for a new work permit. Although the main asylum case still pends, Jerry’s client and her family are in a more secure position than they were. “I worked very closely with her and her boys, as you can imagine, over the last year and a half,” he says. “I’m grateful seeing how happy they are now that they’re settled and the boys are in school.”

For Jerry, volunteering has always been an important part of his life. “This has turned out to be a great way to volunteer because I’m still using my legal background and advocacy skills,” he says. “It’s just really rewarding and necessary, especially in these times.”

To learn more about volunteering with the Clinic, please visit our website.