John Kelly spent his early legal career prosecuting felony offenders for Maricopa County before founding a solo-name Phoenix injury boutique built around exclusive personal-injury and wrongful-death representation.
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AT A GLANCE
| FIRM Kelly Law Team, PLLC | FOUNDED 2011 (per Justia), listed elsewhere as 2013; Phoenix, Arizona |
|---|---|
| FOUNDER John E. Kelly (B.S., University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1999) | PRIOR CAREER Prosecutor, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Major Crimes Bureau |
| PRACTICE FOCUS Personal injury & wrongful death (per the attorney’s own profile) | PHOENIX OFFICE 1 E Washington St, Ste 1900, Phoenix, AZ 85004 |
| SIGNATURE EDGE A former prosecutor’s trial experience applied to a small, exclusively plaintiff-side caseload | RECOGNITION Avvo 10.0 “Superb”; The National Trial Lawyers, Top 40 Under 40 |
| REPORTED RESULTS $2,250,000 settlement for a rear-ended motorcyclist requiring multiple leg surgeries | CONTACT (602) 283-4122 · jkphoenixpersonalinjuryattorney.com |
Several firms in this series feature a founder who once worked the defense side of injury litigation before switching to represent plaintiffs. Kelly Law Team’s founder made a related but different crossing: John Kelly began his legal career as a criminal prosecutor for Maricopa County, not as a civil defense attorney, before building a Phoenix injury boutique around his own name.
The firm operates from a single downtown Phoenix office and, per John Kelly’s own attorney profile, concentrates on personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation, though the firm’s own consumer-facing marketing also references representation in DUI and other criminal matters — a combination worth noting plainly rather than smoothing over.
Origin: From Major Crimes Prosecutor to Plaintiff’s Attorney
John Kelly earned a B.S. in business from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1999 before earning his law degree. Per his own professional biography, he began his legal career at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, where he moved from the preliminary bureau into trial groups and eventually into the Major Crimes Bureau, prosecuting serious felony offenders. He also worked within the office’s Repeat Offender Program, focused on protecting victims of the most serious repeat offenders, and conducted numerous jury trials during that time.
In the early 2010s — sources differ on the exact year, with one legal directory listing 2011 and a business listing citing 2013 — Kelly moved to private practice and founded the Kelly Law Team, dedicated to representing people who have been injured or wronged. Per his Super Lawyers profile, Kelly now focuses his practice exclusively on personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.
What Kelly Law Team Handles
- Car, motorcycle, and truck accidents (per the firm)
- Auto-pedestrian accidents (per the firm)
- Premises liability and slip-and-fall claims (per the firm)
- Workplace injuries (per the firm)
- Defective products (per the firm)
- Dog bites and other animal attacks (per the firm)
- Wrongful death (per the firm)
The firm advertises free consultations, 24/7 phone availability, and a contingency-fee arrangement — no fee unless it wins. Separately, the firm’s own Yelp listing also markets representation for DUI and other criminal charges, a service line not mentioned in John Kelly’s personal Super Lawyers biography; prospective clients with a criminal matter should confirm directly with the firm which attorney would handle that type of case.
Track Record
Kelly’s publicly cited representative result is a $2,250,000 settlement for a motorcyclist who was rear-ended and required multiple leg surgeries, per his Super Lawyers profile. Awesome Attorneys did not locate a broader, itemized results page for the firm in the sources reviewed for this profile.
Past-Results Disclaimer. Every case is different, and results depend on each matter’s specific facts and circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter. The figure above is reported by a third-party attorney-rating directory and has not been independently audited by Awesome Attorneys.
In Their Clients’ Words
Public reviews on Yelp and elsewhere repeatedly name specific staff members rather than the firm generically. Multiple reviewers credit attorney Cliff Frisbie and his assistant, identified as DeShaun, with patient, well-communicated case handling through a lengthy process; others single out staff identified as Trent, Gary, and Jordan for keeping clients informed and easing the claims process. The firm holds a 10.0 “Superb” Avvo rating and Martindale-Hubbell Client Champion recognition, both based on aggregated client review scores.
Recognition
John Kelly has been named to The National Trial Lawyers’ Top 40 Under 40 and holds a 10.0 “Superb” Avvo peer-and-client rating. The firm’s own marketing also cites recognition as one of the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys’ “10 Best” law firms for client satisfaction (2019) and a similar “10 Best Attorneys” recognition from the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys (2019) — both third-party award-program recognitions rather than an Awesome Attorneys assessment.
The Arizona Legal Backdrop
What follows is general legal information about Arizona law, not legal advice. Arizona’s general statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death claims is two years (A.R.S. § 12-542). Claims against a government entity instead require a Notice of Claim within 180 days (A.R.S. § 12-821.01) and suit within one year (A.R.S. § 12-821). Arizona is a pure comparative-negligence state (A.R.S. § 12-2505): a claimant’s own fault reduces, rather than bars, recovery.
This section is general legal information about Arizona statutes, not legal advice, and may not reflect changes after July 2026. Anyone with a potential injury claim should consult a licensed Arizona attorney promptly.
The Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Kelly Law Team is among the smallest, most personally-branded firms in this series: a single downtown Phoenix office built around one prosecutor-turned-plaintiff’s-attorney’s name and trial background. Its client reviews consistently describe hands-on attention from named staff rather than a large case-management pool, and its Avvo and National Trial Lawyers recognitions are genuine third-party marks rather than self-assigned superlatives. The firm’s own marketing blending personal-injury and criminal-defense (DUI) representation is worth a direct question at intake, since John Kelly’s own professional biography describes an exclusively civil, injury-focused practice.
METHODOLOGY & SOURCING
This profile was compiled from publicly available sources, including John Kelly’s Super Lawyers profile, his personal attorney-profile page (jkphoenixpersonalinjuryattorney.com), Justia’s attorney directory, and business and consumer listings (Yelp, Martindale, LawInfo, USAttorneys). Awards, ratings, and the representative case result are the firm’s own published claims or named third-party directory recognitions and are attributed as such. Client review themes are paraphrased from publicly posted reviews rather than reproduced verbatim. All figures, dates, and credentials should be re-verified against primary sources prior to publication.
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