Professor of Law
Creighton University School of Law
Michael Kelly eceived his LL.M. in International & Comparative Law with distinction from Georgetown University in 1996, his Juris Doctor in 1994 and Bachelor of Arts in 1990 from Indiana University. While in law school he was Associate Symposium Editor of the Indiana International & Comparative Law Review and president of the Student Bar Association. Following graduation, Professor Kelly served as an attorney in the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Before joining the Creighton faculty in 2001, he taught at Michigan State University College of Law.
Professor Kelly is author of the book Nowhere to Hide: Defeat of the Sovereign Immunity Defense for Crimes of Genocide & the Trials of Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein (Peter Lang Pub. 2005), with a foreword by Desmond Tutu, and co-author of the book Equal Justice in the Balance: Americas Legal Responses to the Emerging Terrorist Threat (Univ. of Mich. Press 2004), with a foreword by Michael Ratner. He has published articles on a variety of issues, including international use of force theory, state sovereignty, federal law governing disposal of Native American remains, extradition, and the international black market in art and antiquities. His most recent articles appear in the international journals at UCLA and Cornell. Professor Kelly has presented his recommendations on United Nations Security Council reform at the Academic Council of the U.N. System in New York and at the Irish Association of Law Teachers in Derry. His Op-Ed columns have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Diego Union Tribune, Detroit News, Chicago Sun-Times and Houston Chronicle.
Professor Kelly wrote the grant that USAID awarded to the Law School in 2005 calling for creation of a model Cuba/U.S. bilateral property claims settlement tribunal which can be offered to a transitional government in Havana after the Castro regime is gone. Dean Patrick Borchers leads the team of six law and political science faculty tasked with building this model. Currently, Professor Kelly serves as Director of Studies for the American national chapter of L’association International du Droit Pénal and moderates the associated blog for international criminal law professors and practicioners.
