About the author
Pierce Kelley is a lawyer and educator turned author who received his undergraduate degree from Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1969. He received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence (JD) from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. in 1973. Following his admission to the Florida Bar, Pierce began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in Clearwater, Florida. In 1979 he moved to West Virginia and became the managing attorney of a Legal Services office in a rural five county area in the northeast corner of the state called the Potomac Highlands. In 1985, Pierce returned to Miami, where he was raised, and served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida. Since 1986 Pierce has worked exclusively in the area of civil law, concentrating on personal injury, consumer and family law matters. He has served as lead counsel in over 100 jury trials and has successfully argued before the Supreme Court of Florida and the Supreme Court of Appeals for the State of West Virginia. He is currently an active member of the Florida Bar and an inactive member of the West Virginia Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court, though he has yet to do so. He is now a sole practitioner in Cedar Key, Florida. Pierce began writing in 1989 when a freak accident in a softball game caused him a broken ankle. While convalescing, he wrote A Parent's Guide to Coaching Tennis, which was recognized by the United States Tennis Association as being the perfect introduction and primer for parents of beginning players. Over a span of 50 years, Mr. Kelley was a nationally-ranked player as a junior, in the open Men's Division, and as a senior. He was also the president of the Youth Tennis Foundation of Florida from 1987 until 2007. In 2000, Pierce authored his second book, Civil Litigation: A Case Study, while teaching paralegal students as an Adjunct Professor at St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Florida. He taught at various colleges and universities as an Adjunct for over 25 years. Pierce completed his first novel, A Very Fine Line, in 2004. Since then six more have followed, which are Fistfight at the L and M Saloon, A Plenary Indulgence, Bocas del Toro, Asleep at the Wheel, A Tinker's Damn!, and A Foreseeable Risk. He has also written Pieces to the Puzzle, which is a collection of personal essays, and Kennedy Homes: An American Tragedy, which is an account of a major Fair Housing case Mr. Kelley was involved in during the years 2004 and 2007. Thousand Yard Stare is his eighth published novel.
