BIO

Nicole Kelly is a Senior Counsel at Lex Politica and an all-around political operative, having worked in almost every type of political role in her decade of experience in politics. Her comprehensive legal practice focuses on advising clients on election and political law compliance under federal, state, and local campaign finance, lobbying, government ethics, and tax-exempt organization laws. She also routinely represents clients on all aspects of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), including registration, reporting, investigations, and audits. Her advice is tailored for clients who want efficient answers with a clear path to effectively pursue their policy and political goals. She brings a creative mindset to every client and project she engages with, understanding that thinking outside of the box can often lead to the most impactful results.

Nicole regularly advises PACs, political party committees, and other entities on navigating compliance, enforcement, and advisory matters with the Federal Election Commission and state campaign finance regulators. Nicole’s extensive political law experience includes serving as deputy general counsel to a major presidential campaign, and she frequently represents politically engaged, high-net-worth individuals.

In the era of increased FARA enforcement, Nicole’s approach is to simplify complex legal topics in a client-friendly and politically strategic way. She represents international corporations, consulting groups, think tanks, trade associations, advocacy organizations, and individuals, and handles numerous Department of Justice inquiries and audits. She advises clients not only on the practical legal advice needed to comply with the black letter law, but provides a veteran political perspective necessary for those engaging in the sensitive and high-profile advocacy space.

Prior to joining the firm, she was a senior associate at a Washington, DC political law firm. She also previously served as the lead political compliance attorney for the National Association of REALTORS®, where she successfully oversaw the legal compliance for multi-million-dollar PAC and advocacy programs. In both of these roles, Nicole gained experience preparing and filing campaign finance and regulatory disclosures, including PAC and Super PAC committee registrations, expenditure statements, lobbying reports, political communication disclaimers, and other donor disclosures. This background emphasizes her expertise in corporate engagement in the political process, including grassroots advocacy, peer-to-peer texting, corporate political giving, direct-to-candidate giving programs, the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA), and the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA). As a law student, Nicole worked as a law clerk for the Republican National Committee, and as a policy associate and consultant for multiple federal agencies and government affairs firms.

Nicole is a regularly featured subject matter expert, having appeared in publications such as POLITICO, Daily Caller, the Federalist, Law 360, JD Supra, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, among others. She was also previously a featured panelist for the Republican National Lawyers Association, Federalist Society, and Public Affairs Council.

A native of Las Vegas, Nicole is a key legal expert in the battleground state of Nevada. For the 2022 and 2024 election cycles, she served as the Republican National Lawyer Association’s Political Director in Nevada, leading the recruitment, deployment, and election law training for the volunteer attorney team. Before law school, she worked in fundraising, campaign consulting, and a variety of other political roles in Las Vegas.

EDUCATION

The George Washington University Law School, J.D.

• Academic Merit Scholarship

• Shapiro Public Service Fellowship

• Gold President's Volunteer Service Award

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, B.A., cum laude, Economics

BAR ADMISSIONS

• Nevada State Bar

• District of Columbia Bar

• New York State Bar