Ken Kellner has decades of federal litigation and legislative experience in leadership roles in different branches of the federal government. His experience includes service as senior counsel in the Office of Legislative Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice, as deputy chief counsel and director of investigations and enforcement for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics, as counsel to the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, as assistant general counsel for the Federal Election Commission, and as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Highlights of Professor Kellner’s professional work include a corruption investigation resulting in the expulsion of a member of congress from the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the United States in federal courts in nearly 30 states, implementing the Lobbying Disclosure Act and other public integrity laws, managing executive branch responses to congressional oversight, and presenting to international bodies on laws and practices necessary to safeguard the independence of judges and legislators. During 2022-2023, Professor Kellner was detailed to the Office of the Vice President of the United States, where he served as ethics counsel.
Prior to joining the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Professor Kellner held faculty positions with the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, Michigan State University College of Law, the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, and Stetson University College of Law. He is also one of the founding faculty members of the Georgetown University Law Center’s Prisons and Justice Initiative. In February 2025, Professor Kellner presented a proposal for Supreme Court ethics reform at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphrey School of Law’s Annual Law Review Symposium.
Professor Kellner attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and is also a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. He presently serves as vice chair of the Police Accountability Board of Montgomery County, Maryland.