Background
Kelley, James M. was born on March 7, 1941 in Le Mars, Iowa, United States.
Kelley, James M. was born on March 7, 1941 in Le Mars, Iowa, United States.
University of Iowa (Bachelor of Arts, 1963). Georgetown University (Juris Doctor, 1968).
Worked at Berry, Kelley & Hansen (Lincoln, North-East) specializing in Criminal and Civil Trial Practice. State and Federal Felonies and Misdemeanors. Trials and Appeals. Veterans Rights and Social Security Law.
Admitted to the bar, 1968, Minnesota.
1969, United States. District Court, District of Minnesota. 1970, United States. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
1971, Nebraska and United States. District Court, District of Nebraska.
1973, United States. Supreme Court.
Phi Delta Phi (Treasurer, 1967-1968). Assistant Attorney General, 1968-1971. Director of Criminal Division, 1969-1971, Office of Attorney General, State of Minnesota.
Member, Lincoln/Lancaster County Goals and Policies Committee, 1974-1978.
Member: Ramsey County (Minnesota), Lancaster County, Minnesota State, Nebraska State (Member: Committee on Ethics, 1978-1982. Public Relations Committee, 1982) and American Bar Associations.
Nebraska Association of Trial Lawyers. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
Commercial Law League of America.
John Stevens Berry has appeared in court in twenty-four states, and two foreign countries. Following his military service, he was, in 1970 and 1971, briefly associated with the Henry B. Rothblatt Offices in New York, where he tried a number of high-profile cases. He returned to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1971, and has continued to have a regional criminal trial practice.
In 1986, he was Civilian Defense Counsel in the biggest drug bust in the history of Japan.
He has conducted seminars for practicing lawyers in Kansas City, Missouri, and Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, and each year is invited to the Judge Advocate Generals School at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, to lecture on Constitutional issues regarding criminal defense in the military. In Nebraska, he has tried cases that have, on appeal, changed the law of search and seizure in the Eighth Circuit as well as Nebraska.
Member, Lincoln/Lancaster County Goals and Policies Committee, 1974-1978. Member: Ramsey County (Minnesota), Lancaster County, Minnesota State, Nebraska State (Member: Committee on Ethics, 1978-1982. Public Relations Committee, 1982) and American Bar Associations.
Nebraska Association of Trial Lawyers.
The Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Commercial Law League of America.