Experienced Indiana Personal Injury Attorney
Attorney William “B.J.” Kelley is a partner at Craig, Kelley & Faultless, a prominent Indiana personal injury law firm.
A knowledgeable and compassionate attorney with decades of experience, B.J. devotes his legal practice to representing injured people in Indiana. During more than 20 years of personal injury practice, he estimates that he has personally negotiated and resolved more than 5,000 cases. He has taken part in jury trials in Indiana and Ohio and received numerous professional recognitions.
A thorough understanding of the serious injuries and hardships that his clients have endured motivates B.J. Kelley to work hard to pursue the full compensation that the injured need to rebuild their lives. He is confident of his litigation skills when insurance companies refuse to settle and cases go to court for an Indiana jury to decide.
“Going up against some of the largest insurance companies in the United States, no matter how big of a law firm you are, is a challenge,” Kelley says. “The jury system is the one thing that is the equalizer.”
An experienced trial lawyer, B.J. is grateful to have the opportunity to use his legal skills to help people in Indiana who are coping with the aftermath of serious accidents and injuries.
Compassion and Guidance for Injured People
B.J. has developed a special interest in the medical issues entailed in personal injury cases. He has worked with doctors and medical professionals to ensure that insurance companies and juries receive the most accurate, complete information about clients’ injuries and medical treatment. He has been a guest speaker at numerous legal conferences and seminars, sharing his knowledge with other attorneys.
He also has written a book entitled “Soft Tissue Injuries and Hard Ball Tactics” to help people dealing with insurance companies. The book, available on Amazon, is a straightforward guide to help people overcome the obstacles that insurers use to minimize personal injury claims.
For his effective legal representation of clients, B.J. has received numerous honors and professional recognitions. He is listed as an Indiana Super Lawyer in the practice area of general personal injury —plaintiffs for 2020 and 2021. He also is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, for his work in personal injury litigation for 2019-2021. He also has been named a Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Indiana by the National Trial Lawyers (2012-2018) and a Motor Vehicle Top 25 Attorney by National Trial Lawyers (2018).
Growing Up in Indiana
B.J. grew up in southeastern Indiana in the area where his extended family has been living for more than a century. He graduated from Emory University in 1981 and from Georgetown University Law School cum laude (with honors) in 1985.
During law school, he was accepted into the American Criminal Law Review and was a member of the D.C. Law Students in Court, where he helped local citizens and tries his first cases while still in law school.
After graduation from law school, he was admitted into the Attorney General’s Honors Program, which according to the Justice Department, is “the most prestigious federal entry-level attorney hiring program of its kind.” While working as a trial lawyer for the Justice Department, B.J. handled cases and trials in federal courts across the United States.
“When you are growing up in a small community, one of the things that sometimes you dream about is leaving and seeing the wide world,” B.J. says. “It’s sometimes only when you are able to do that that you appreciate what you had when you were in that small community and the friendships and love and the way people take care of each other. That definitely the way both my wife and I felt.”
After spending 10 years in Washington, D.C., B.J. and his wife Lisa, a pediatrician, decided to relocate to Indiana to raise their two children.
“Once we moved away, we were very anxious to come back to that small community to raise our kids and for them to have the same experience that we had,” he says.
B.J. manages the Batesville office of Craig, Kelley & Faultless.
The partners at Craig, Kelley & Faultless grew up in different locations, but they all learned the same values growing up—the old-fashioned values of hard work, honesty, and treating people with fairness and respect. They are the values on which the three attorneys founded the law firm in 1999 and which continue to guide the firm’s success. The attorneys at Craig, Kelley & Faultless treat clients as they would want their own loved ones to be treated if they needed professional services. Call or contact William J. Kelley today to find out how he can help you with your personal injury case.
“We have a theory that what goes around, comes around,” B.J. says. “We take care of our clients.”
Bar Admissions
U.S. Supreme Court, 2000
Ohio, 2000
Indiana Supreme Court, 1993
U.S. District Court (Southern District of Indiana), 1993
Indiana, 1993
Education/Work Experience
U.S. Department of Justice, Trial Attorney, Attorney General’s Honors Program, 1985 – 1988
J.D., cum laude, Georgetown University, 1985
American Criminal Law Review
D.C. Law Students in Court
B.A., Emory University, 1981
Professional Associations
Indiana Trial Lawyers Association
American Association for Justice
National Trial Lawyers
American Society of Legal Advocates
Top 100 Litigation Lawyers (Indiana)
National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys
Top 10 Personal Injury Lawyers
Honors & Awards
Top 100 Indiana Trial Lawyers — Indiana, National Trial Lawyers
Motor Vehicle Top 25 Attorney by National Trial Lawyers
Indiana Super Lawyer (2020 and 2021)
Best Lawyers in America 2021
Seminars
Indiana Trial Lawyers Association Lifetime Achievement Seminar, speaker multiple times
American Academy of Facial Pain, Dallas, Texas, speaker
Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum, Auto Accident Litigation Seminar, speaker
Atlanta Masters Seminar: Treating Doctor Depositions
Indiana Trial Lawyers: The Reptile Brain and Indiana Law
Ohio Trial Lawyers Winter Convention: Improving Medical Video Depositions in Personal Injury Cases
Kentucky Trial Lawyers: Direct and Cross-Examination
“What to Do When You are Getting Hosed by the Carrier: A Follow-Up on the Alabama Sanctions Article in the Most Recent Verdict Magazine” at Indiana Trial Lawyers Association’s 33rd Annual Lifetime Achievement Webinar. May 19, 2021, speaker
