Gerard Kelly has been a practising Solicitor since his admission to practise on July 27 1973. He was a partner in the legal firm Parker & Kissane in Casino NSW until June 1993, practising in a wide range of legal areas. He was an Alderman on Casino Municipal Council from 1978-1983 and Mayor of Casino from 1980-1983. Whilst Mayor he inter alia instigated the annual Beef Week carnival and was instrumental in introducing a corporate plan of management for Council procedures.

In 1993 Gerard Kelly graduated as Master of Laws with Honours from the University of Technology Sydney writing a thesis on bias in Local Government. This thesis was later published as a book by Butterworths under the title Bias in Local Government, Law and Policy. That same year he began a full-time academic career taking up an appointment as a Lecturer in Law at the Law School, University of New England, Armidale NSW. In 1996 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer and held that position until his resignation from the Law School in 2005 to return to full time practice. He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Law School in 2005 and continues to lecture as a Lecturer on contract.

Whilst pursuing a full-time academic career, Gerard Kelly continued to practise mainly in the area of legal aid with the North and North West Community Legal Service.

During his full time academic career Gerard Kelly co-authored two other books (Questions and Answers in Property Law and Reinventing the Commons) and wrote a number of articles in the area of Local Government Law, Property Law and Administrative Law. He was a contributor to Halsbury's Laws of Australia and the Local Government and Planning Law loose-leaf publication of Butterworths. He lectured particularly in the area of Property Law, but also in Torts, Administrative Law, Equity, Conveyancing, Local Government Law and Corporate Law. In 2001-2002 he took a year's sabbatical studing at the prestigious University College London graduating with a Master of Arts degree in legal theory.

Gerard Kelly's current areas of practice are Business and Commercial Law, Local Government and Planning Law, Property Law and Property Development, Trusts, Estates and Succession.