Third Court of Appeals

Place 3

Justice Chari L. Kelly has served on the Third Court of Appeals since January 1, 2019. Before her election, she worked as a felony prosecutor in Travis and Comal counties as well as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Medicaid Fraud Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, focusing on pharmaceutical litigation. She is a former paratrooper and captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the U.S. Army where she served as a defense attorney at Fort Hood and Joint Base San Antonio (Formerly Fort Sam Houston) in Texas.

Justice Kelly is Board Certified by both the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and the National Board of Trial Advocacy in Criminal Law.

Justice Kelly received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with high honors from the University of Florida and her Doctor of Jurisprudence from The University of Texas School of Law. She is president of the Texas Law Alumni Association and has served as an adjunct professor and lecturer for Texas Law’s Advocacy Department for almost 20 years.

She is a past president of the Austin Young Lawyers Association and the Austin Bar Association, as well as past Chair of the Austin Bar Foundation. In 2023, she was recognized as a Travis County Women’s Lawyers Association “Pathfinder” for her positive impact on the local legal community and was awarded “Mentor of the Year” by both the Texas Young Lawyers Association and Austin Young Lawyer’s Association.

Justice Kelly and her husband, Adam Schramek, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, live in Austin, Texas.