Professor Kelly is the Dean of the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law. She holds a BA and LLB (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and an LLM and PhD from the University of British Columbia. Prior to becoming Dean at UAlberta, Professor Kelly was Dean of La Trobe University Law School in Melbourne, Australia. Professor Kelly is a law and society scholar whose research interests are primarily in the areas of Family Law and Health Law, with a particular focus on the legal regulation of assisted reproduction. She has published extensively in Canadian and international journals on a variety of topics, including the legal regulation of parentage in the context of assisted reproduction and the judicial and legislative treatment of lesbian and single mother by choice families. Her research has had significant impact on family law reform in both Canada and Australia, including reforms to British Columbia’s Family Law Act which became the first legislation in the world to recognize families with more than two parents. Professor Kelly has held research grants in both Canada and Australia. Most recently, she led an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant, « Families of Strangers? The socio-legal implications of donor linking”, which explored the impact of donor linking laws and practices on the individual and familial identities of donor conceived adults and their parents, as well as sperm and egg donors. Professor Kelly has served on a number of Boards, including the Victorian Assisted Reproduction Treatment Authority (VARTA) and the Alberta Law Reform Institute. She was also the Editor of the Australian Journal of Family Law from 2015-19.
