Our Team
Jim Kelly
James J. Kelly, Jr. is Clinical Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, where he teaches Real Estate Transactions, Land Use Planning Law and directs and teaches the Community Development Clinic. From December 2011-August 2015, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law. Prior to joining the Notre Dame Law faculty in 2011, he served as Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Community Development Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Jim is sole principal of Vital Neighborhoods Consulting, LLC through which he has provided training and consulting services in Indiana, Michigan and Iowa on a wide variety of public policy matters related to the prevention, reclamation and transformation of problem vacant properties in urban neighborhoods.
Before beginning his teaching career in 2004, he, as Executive Director of Save A Neighborhood, Inc. and Legal Consultant for Baltimore's Project 5000, worked to assist the City and community groups in acquiring clear title to vacant houses and vacant lot and, as a Staff Attorney for the Community Law Center, to represent Baltimore nonprofits in their community revitalization efforts. Prior to moving to Baltimore in 1999, Jim also represented and counseled tenants and tenant groups for the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corp., where his work was funded by the Skadden Fellowship Foundation.
