J. Kelly Duncan > Jones Walker LLP > New Orleans, United States > Lawyer Profile

Jones Walker LLP Offices

Jones Walker LLP
201 ST. CHARLES AVENUE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70170-5100
LOUISIANA
United States
Visit website 1 504 582 8000 1 504 582 8583

J. Kelly Duncan

J. Kelly Duncan photo
504.582.8218 kduncan@joneswalker.com

Work Department

Maritime

Position

Partner

Career

Kelly Duncan is a partner in the Maritime Practice Group. He serves currently as co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Industry Team and served on Jones Walker’s Board of Directors from 2006 to 2014.

Kelly has more than 35 years of experience handling admiralty, maritime, and international and customs law matters, including domestic and international matters relating to marine acquisitions, financings, vessel construction, regulatory issues, maritime lien enforcement and foreclosures, contracts of affreightment, terminal tariffs, and charter parties. His international practice encompasses international commercial transactions, customs rulings, protests, reliquidations, seizures, forfeitures, and classification disputes.

Since the early 1990s and the passage of legislation in states outside of Nevada and New Jersey authorizing video poker, riverboat gaming, land-based casinos, and racinos, Kelly has been integrally involved in the representation of major commercial and tribal casino companies as well as manufacturers, suppliers, and financial institutions regarding all matters relating to the development, financing, and operation of such facilities. He has extensive experience handling public-private leases, financings, land use approvals, statutory and regulatory interpretation and compliance, gaming operations, administrative hearings, and litigation.

Among Kelly’s clients are many of the largest gaming operators and gaming equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the world. He also advises major investment banking firms and large commercial lenders involved in secured and unsecured lending, and debt offerings and bond offerings in connection with the development of various gaming projects, as well as REITs.

Kelly is a past president of the International Masters of Gaming Law and a member of the International Association of Gaming Advisors. He has served as a speaker at international gaming conferences and at maritime seminars around the world, and is one of only seven gaming attorneys from the United States listed as a notable practitioner in the 2018 edition of Chambers Global Guide.

As a result of his maritime, gaming, and international practices, Kelly has had extensive experience appearing before regulatory bodies and federal courts.

Memberships

  • American Association of Exporters and Importers  
  • American Bar Association, Sections of Admiralty and Maritime Law and Business Law, Marine Financing and Gaming Law Committees 
  • American Bar Association Gaming Law Minefield National Institute, Past Co-Chair  
  • Association of Average Adjusters of the United States
  • Audubon Boulevard Association, Past President; Board of Directors Members
  • Audubon Commission, President; Member of Executive Committee; Past First Vice-President
  • Audubon Fund Committee, Past Chairman
  • Audubon Nature Institute, Past Chairman; Past First Vice-Chairman; Past Second Vice-Chairman; Past Treasurer and Chairman of Finance Committee; Past Parliamentarian; Honorary Co-Chair, 2015 Zoo-to-Do; Co-Chair 2019 Zoo to Do Sponsor Committee
  • Audubon Nature Institute Foundation, Past Member, Board of Directors 
  • Bureau of Governmental Research, Past Chairman, Board of Directors; Member, Endowment Committee; Past Member of Executive Committee; Past Chairman of Nominating Committee; Past Member of Strategic Planning/Communication Committee; Past Vice-Chairman; Past Treasurer and Chairman of Finance Committee; Past Chairman of Development Committee 
  • Chamber of Commerce of New Orleans and the River Region, Past Chairman, Port and Waterways Advisory Committee 
  • Committee for a Better New Orleans, Past Participant in the MAC Leadership Forum; Member
  • Federal Bar Association  
  • Gaming Law Review and Economics, Editorial Board
  • Georgetown University Alumni Admissions Program, Member, Louisiana Admissions Committee 
  • Georgetown University Board of Governors, Past Member 
  • Georgetown University Club of Louisiana, Past President 
  • International Association of Gaming Advisors  
  • International Masters of Gaming Law, Past President; Member of the Executive Committee
  • John Charles Olmsted Society for Audubon Park, Founding Member
  • Louisiana Children’s Museum, Past President; Past Member of Executive Committee; Past Vice-President; Past Treasurer and Chairman of Finance Committee; Past Chairman of Development Committee; Past Chairman of Nominating Committee; Past Member of Long Range Planning Committee
  • Louisiana Nature and Science Center (National Center for Wetlands Education and Society for Environmental Education), Past President, Past Member of Executive Committee, Past Vice-President, Past Member of Finance Committee, Past Member of Long Range Planning Committee
  • Louisiana State Bar Association, Sections on Admiralty and International Law
  • Louisiana State Bar Association, Chairman, Cuba Task Force 
  • Maritime Law Association of the United States, Sections of Marine Financing and Carriage of Goods; Past Speaker at the Annual Meeting
  • Metropolitan Area Committee, Member; Past Participant, MAC Leadership Forum (1982) 
  • New Orleans Bar Association, Past Co-Chairman, Maritime and International Law Committee 
  • New Orleans Maritime Seminar, Advisory and Planning Committee
  • New Orleans Museum of Art, Fellow Member; Odyssey Ball Co-Chair (2017)
  • New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute, Member of Class of 2005 
  • Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, Member; Past Speaker at Annual Meeting
  • St. Martin’s Episcopal School, Board of Trustees
  • Trinity Episcopal Church, Past Clerk of the Vestry and Member of Executive Committee; Delegate to the 2015 Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana Convention; Past Member of Endowment Committee
  • Trinity Episcopal School, Past Member of Board of Trustees; Past Chairman of Development Committee; Past Member of Finance Committee
  • Tulane Latin American Law Institute, Advisory Committee
  • UNLV Gaming Law Journal, Advisory Board
  • United Way, Past Professional Group Solicitor 
  • World Trade Center, Past Member of Transportation Committee 
  • Young Leadership Council, Past Member, Board of Directors 

Education

  • Tulane University Law School
    JD, 1979
  • Georgetown University
    AB, cum laude, 1976

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