Kelly C. Hanley

Kelly Colquette Hanley’s practice focuses on commercial litigation. She has significant experience in: creditor's rights litigation including commercial foreclosures, collections and lender liability defense; real property litigation including eminent domain, boundary and easement disputes, and railroad rights of way; commercial landlord and tenant disputes; construction disputes; insurance fraud; adversary proceedings in bankruptcy; claim and delivery proceedings; and caveat proceedings.

Prior to joining the firm in 2007, Kelly served as the trial court administrator and the family court administrator for the Fifth Judicial District in North Carolina. She also has extensive courtroom experience from serving over five years as a prosecutor in Houston and thereafter from practicing criminal defense and family law in North Carolina for several years. She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Commercial Litigation (2019-present).

Kelly is involved in community events and nonprofit organizations.  She is past president of the New Hanover County Bar Association and is the current president of the YWCA Lower Cape Fear’s board of directors.  She is a member of the Founder’s Gala Committee of the New Hanover Regional Medical Foundation to raise funds to support the Betty H. Cameron Women's and Children's Hospital.  She has also received recognition for her pro bono efforts from Legal Services of the Lower Cape Fear and the Domestic Violence Shelter and Services of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Kelly earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse University, and she earned her Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University Law School, where she was the recipient of The James A. Wysocki Trial Advocacy Award.  She is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and Texas.  She is a member of the Fifth Judicial District Bar, the New Hanover County Bar Association, the Tenth Judicial District Bar, the Wake County Bar and the Construction Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association. Kelly is also admitted to practice in all state courts and federal courts in North Carolina.