From Child Actor to Courtroom Advocate, Kelly Hyman Charts Her Own Course to Justice
When Kelly Hyman made the journey from child actor to attorney, she realized she wanted her legal career to be about seeking justice for the underserved and advocating for people’s rights.
Today, Kelly serves as an accomplished attorney, author, and media commentator known for her passion for empowering women and bridging the political discourse.
Kelly’s passion is evident in and outside the courtroom. As an attorney, Kelly takes on big companies, representing consumers who have been harmed. As a media commentator and legal analyst, Kelly helps unpack complicated legal and political issues for the American public.
The Road to Attorney and Advocate
Kelly began her career as a child actor in LA and NYC landing roles in commercials, The Young and the Restless, a TV movie pilot, Gettin’ There, and in various roles in off-Broadway shows. While acting, she earned a communications degree at UCLA and, at age 30, followed her inner voice to fulfill her desire to become an attorney. She embarked on her new career path at the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, knowing this would be the turning point in allowing her to help make a difference in people’s lives.
Kelly graduated from law school with honors and worked on class-action suits as a judicial clerk for Brian Sandoval, a federal judge in Reno and later a two-term governor of Nevada. She eventually returned to Florida, where she worked as an attorney with the Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley law firm, spending almost five years representing women against manufacturers of transvaginal mesh and bladder slings.
Kelly put her heart and soul into these cases, spending countless hours conducting interviews and depositions with women and their husbands detailing the physical and mental pain caused by the device. “There was documentation demonstrating that this product should not be inserted in humans, yet it was put into women, and it ruined their lives,” Kelly said in an interview with Lifestyle magazine. Knowing the devastating impact these products had on these women and their partners, she made it her mission to help them and hold the companies responsible. “[Working on these cases] was the most rewarding thing I’ve ever felt.”
Over her 20-year career, Kelly has represented hundreds of people in claims and individual actions filed in state and federal courts involving water contamination, tobacco, transvaginal mesh, and bladder slings (including products sold by Bard, Coloplast, Johnson & Johnson/Ethicon, Mentor, Boston Scientific, AMS, and ARIS).
In 2019, Kelly founded The Hyman Law Firm, P.A., and provides legal counsel in complex litigation cases nationwide. Her current workload includes lawsuits alleging the presence of carcinogenic materials in certain CPAP (sleep apnea) machines.
A Familiar Television Face
Kelly regularly appears on Fox News, BBC, MSNBC, and CourtTV as a legal and Democratic political strategist. She uses these platforms not only to help break down complicated legal issues but also to exchange divergent political views to at least “lead to a more harmonious existence” among those on opposite sides of the aisle. Her Democratic roots began with an internship in President Clinton’s administration. She also volunteered during President Obama’s two election campaigns and served as a poll watcher in the past presidential election.
Kelly’s voice can also be heard as the host of the podcast Once Upon a Crime in Hollywood, where she is joined by guests for six episodes to examine the murder case of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen.
Putting Pen to Paper
Kelly has authored two books, with her most recent published in 2021: Build Back Better: The First 100 Days of the Biden Administration, and Beyond, in which she compares Biden’s candidacy promises with his presidential accomplishments, reviews the administration’s actions by policy area, and provides an overview of the president’s first executive orders, his cabinet appointments, and the administration’s legislative progress.
Kelly Hyman’s journey continues to be to fight the good fight and bring change to people’s lives on a national level and in her own backyard. She is involved in several law-oriented groups and causes to help serve those in need more fully.
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