Kelly Wheeler

Kelly Wheeler joined Baron & Budd as an associate in 2021. She works with our Opioid Litigation Group to represent states and municipalities harmed by the opioid epidemic.

Prior to coming to Baron & Budd, Ms. Wheeler gained valuable experience in commercial litigation, personal injury and insurance defense. During her four years with a national trial firm in Dallas, Texas, Ms. Wheeler worked zealously to represent individuals and families harmed by dangerous drugs, defective products, and asbestos exposure. In that time, Ms. Wheeler headed the firm’s pharmaceutical mass tort department and represented hundreds of plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation cases and other consolidated litigations. She was part of the trial team for the first bellwether trial involving Pradaxa, a prescription drug. In addition to her pharmaceutical practice, she represented individuals and families devastated by diseases caused by exposure to asbestos.

Ms. Wheeler graduated from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the Classics and a concentration in Latin language. As a law student at Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas, she received the Dean’s Academic Excellence scholarship for her undergraduate efforts, was named to the Dean’s Academic Honor List and was a recipient of the W. Frank Newton Best Brief award.

During law school, Ms. Wheeler worked for two years as a research assistant for her Contracts and Federal Courts professor. During her summers, she gained valuable experience while employed at the Texas Attorney General’s Child Support office in Waco, Texas, and by working with a major Texas hospital’s legal department in her hometown of Temple, Texas. In her third year of law school, Ms. Wheeler expanded her practical experience while working for a Waco law firm where she conducted legal research and drafted memoranda and expert reports for insurance matters.

Ms. Wheeler attributes her decision to attend law school to a knack for speech and debate in high school, at which she excelled. “I am grateful to enjoy a career where my strength in advocacy combines with my desire to help others. I have focused my career on obtaining justice for people who have been seriously hurt by corporate misconduct, and I’m excited to continue that work at Baron & Budd.”

Kelly Wheeler and her husband are the proud “parents” of a rescue pup named Olivia and an elderly rescue cat named Mrs. Buttersworth. In her free time, Ms. Wheeler enjoys fitness classes, cross-stitching and quality time with her friends and family.