Boston Legal

KELLY HAD A GOOD EXCUSE FOR MISSING HIS 30TH REUNION: AS AN assistant U.S. attorney in Boston he was busy prosecuting crime boss Whitey Bulger in one of the most publicized trials in the city’s history. Kelly (above, center) says his love of the law was inspired by former government professor Vincent Starzinger.

Although Kelly began investigating the South Boston gangster in the 1990s and tried related cases, he admits to doubts that Bulger, a fugitive for 16 years, would ever be found. “After I got the call at home that they had him, I couldn’t sleep, so I went right to the office,” he says. “We had mountains of materials at the ready, but that had to be organized and synthesized so it could be presented to a jury in a logical, streamlined way.” His legal team included Hafer, an assistant U.S. attorney formerly focused on drug cases, and Shkuratov, a spring-term intern. The Dartmouth connection “provided some levity” during their long hours, Kelly says. “It’s interesting we represent 16-year intervals.”

The prosecution rested its case shortly before DAM went to press, with 32 charges pending against Bulger.

The Dartmouth contingent of the Whitey Bulger prosecution team, photographed at the Federal Courthouse in Boston on June 14, 2013

As head of a unit charged with combatting public corruption, I know I’ll never run out of work,” says Kelly.