Meet the Dean

Daniel B. Kelly began his term as dean at the School of Law on July 1, 2024.

Prior to joining St. Thomas, Kelly was a law professor at Notre Dame, serving as the director of its Law and Economics Program and founding director of the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, a university-wide academic center.

In leading the Fitzgerald Institute, Kelly recruited faculty, launched new courses and an interdisciplinary minor, hosted academic conferences and industry events and helped to raise endowed funding for new programs and initiatives. He brought together professors and students, alumni and industry leaders and nonprofit partners to explore key issues and trends in real estate investment and development, housing and construction, Church properties and property law. Kelly is a member of the American Law Institute and American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

Kelly was a judicial clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, a research fellow at Yale and Harvard, a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School and the Louis D. Brandeis Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Notre Dame.