Since its founding in 1997 by Michael V. Kelley and James L. Ferraro, Cleveland, Ohio-based Kelley & Ferraro has grown to having some 100 lawyers and support staff.

Inside Business recently called Michael V. Kelley “Cleveland’s King of Torts”. “Kelley is the premier asbestos clients attorney in Ohio, and one of the major players in the nation,” according to the magazine.

In a recent Crain’s Cleveland Business Book of Lists, Kelley & Ferraro was the only plaintiffs’ law firm among the 40 largest law firms in Greater Cleveland, as measured by the number of attorneys. Indeed, as of this writing, Kelley & Ferraro handles one of the largest number of asbestos plaintiffs’ caseload in the country – with more than 30,000 cases pending in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and, collaborating with local co-counsel, thousands more spread throughout the country.

Before starting the firm in 1997, Michael Kelley, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, was a principal attorney in tobacco and asbestos litigation, class-action lawsuits, and aviation and manufacturing disasters.

In the early 1990s, Kelley met Jim Ferraro, a trial lawyer in Miami, who also had a plaintiff’s asbestos and workplace injury practice. Using their contacts, the lawyers opened Kelley & Ferraro in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, while Ferraro continued developing Ferraro & Associates in Miami.

Since then, Kelley & Ferraro has taken numerous asbestos and toxic-tort cases to verdict many involving malignant mesothelioma. At the same time, Michael V. Kelley negotiated settlements with many of the largest asbestos producers and distributors, including, Halliburton, Honeywell, Pfizer, ABB and BP Amoco. Kelley has also participated in negotiations within the arena of the bankruptcy courts as more and more asbestos producers and manufacturers have filed for bankruptcy. Kelley had been appointed to sit on 10 federal Asbestos Creditors Bankruptcy Committees and chairs four of them.

Since Kelley & Ferraro’s opening, James L. Ferraro was chosen as one of 10 national finalists for Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1997 for his trial triumph against the chemical manufacturer, DuPont & Company, for causing a birth defect. The Florida jury held DuPont accountable to the mother and child. Court TV covered the trial. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the verdict.

“Our clients – largely working-class men and women -- are the key to our success,” said Michael Kelley. “By earning their trust and working hand-in-hand with them, we strive to obtain for them the best and fairest compensation possible.”