CHICAGO, Oct. 7, 2022 — Kelly A. Waters will receive a 2022 Difference Makers Award at a luncheon today during the 2022 GPSolo Fall Leadership Meeting in Columbus, Ohio. The Making a Difference Through Community Service Award, presented by the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, honors an attorney, living or deceased, who has made a significant lifetime contribution to the local community through community service.
Waters is a partner at national defense firm Wood Smith Henning & Berman LLP and managing partner in the firm’s New Jersey office. She is known for her product liability practice, which includes defending complex product liability matters for a number of regulated products including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer products, foods, automotive and construction/industrial. Waters has participated in numerous multi-party mediations. Through her work with manufacturers, she has developed a related commercial practice advising manufacturers and distributors in commercial and consumer-related matters.
As managing partner of WSHB’s New Jersey office, Waters oversees and leads the construction practice and employment practices, which entail defending employers and management-side employees against claims of discrimination and wage and hour violations under state and federal laws. She also serves as general counsel to a number of small and medium sized businesses where she provides advice on personnel issues, risk management strategies, litigation management, employment and general commercial best practices. In addition, she is a municipal court judge in New Jersey’s Union and Scotch Plains townships.
Waters is a fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, a trustee for the New Jersey Metro Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a founder of the Women on the Move Luncheon, which raises money to fund research and provide services for people diagnosed with MS. She currently serves as secretary and chair of the governance and nominating committee of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of America, a national nonprofit organization that raises money to fund services for people with MS.
Waters is a founder and the former president of the board of directors of the Vanguard Theater Company, a community theater located in New Jersey dedicated to bringing diversity to the stage. She also currently serves as first vice president and human resources chair for the Union County Performing Arts Center and is a member of the ad hoc committee advising the Union County Office of LGBTQ Affairs. Click here for a photo of Kelly A. Waters.
With more than 20,000 members, the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division (GPSolo) is committed to providing unique resources exclusively for solo, small-firm and general practitioners, who represent half of the nation’s lawyers.
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.