J. Kelly

Duncan

Position: Partner
Office: New Orleans

Kelly Duncan is a partner in the Maritime Practice Group. He serves currently as co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Industry Team and served on Jones Walker’s board of directors from 2006 to 2014.

Kelly has 40 years of experience handling admiralty, maritime, and international and customs law matters, including domestic and international matters relating to marine acquisitions, financings, vessel construction, regulatory issues, maritime lien enforcement and foreclosures, contracts of affreightment, terminal tariffs, and charter parties. His international practice encompasses international commercial transactions, customs rulings, protests, reliquidations, seizures, forfeitures, and classification disputes.

Since the early 1990s and the passage of legislation in states outside of Nevada and New Jersey authorizing video poker, riverboat gaming, land-based casinos, and racinos, Kelly has been integrally involved in the representation of major commercial and tribal casino companies as well as manufacturers, suppliers, and financial institutions regarding all matters relating to the development, financing, and operation of such facilities. He has extensive experience handling public-private leases, financings (including gaming vessel financings), land use approvals, statutory and regulatory interpretation and compliance, gaming operations, administrative hearings, and litigation.

Among Kelly’s clients are many of the largest gaming operators and gaming equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the world. He also advises major investment banking firms and large commercial lenders involved in secured and unsecured lending, and debt offerings and bond offerings in connection with the development of various gaming projects, as well as REITs.

Kelly is a past president of the International Masters of Gaming Law and a member of the International Association of Gaming Advisors. He has served as a speaker at international gaming conferences and at maritime seminars around the world, and is one of only seven gaming attorneys from the United States who is ranked globally in the category of Gaming & Gambling in the 2024 edition of Chambers Global Guide.

As a result of his maritime, gaming, and international practices, Kelly has had extensive experience appearing before regulatory bodies and federal courts.

Noteworthy

Experience

Represented the city of Danville, Virginia in negotiating and drafting a casino development agreement with a major casino company.
Represented a real estate investment trust in connection with multiple asset acquisitions of gaming properties throughout the United States
Represented a federally recognized Indian tribe in the acquisition of integrated casino resorts in the United States and Caribbean islands
Represented an operator and processor with worldwide fishing operations in connection with Title XI and other financings and refinancings of fishing vessels secured by domestic and non-domestic ship mortgages
Acted as special maritime counsel in connection with multibillion-dollar credit facility and modifications thereto secured by US ship mortgages
Represented a money-center bank in connection with a loan restructuring involving a fleet of offshore supply vessels secured by US fleet ship mortgages
Represented a casino owner and operator in connection with an $85 million credit facility secured by US ship mortgages
Represented a money center bank in connection with a $575 million credit facility secured by US ship mortgages
Advised in the licensure of domestic and foreign gaming manufacturers and suppliers
Represented major entertainment companies in relation to gaming licensure and compliance matters in multiple states
Represented a regional casino in connection with multimillion-dollar debt financings associated with an emergence from bankruptcy
Represented a major private equity company seeking to acquire a major international lottery company
Represented a national casino company in successfully obtaining important workforce concessions
Represented international gaming manufacturers in connection with gaming issues arising out of mergers
Represented various lenders in connection with a $700 million casino project
Represented a casino owner in connection with a $600 million casino project
Represented an international casino company in connection with a billion-dollar casino project
Acted as special maritime counsel in a $405 million sale of all marine assets of a publicly traded utility to a private equity group
Acted as special maritime counsel in a $9.5 billion acquisition financing associated with a publicly held entity being taken private
Acted as special maritime counsel in a $2.2 billion debt exchange offer
Acted as special maritime counsel in a $5 billion debt exchange offer
Served as gaming counsel to a multijurisdictional casino company in connection with its $2 billion-plus Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Publications

Presentations

Memberships

Civic/Community:

Audubon Commission: President; Member of Executive Committee
Audubon Nature Institute:
- Past Chairman, Board of Directors
- Past Chairman, Annual Fund
- Honorary Co-Chair, Zoo-to-Do (2015; 2020)
- Co-Chair, Zoo to Do Sponsor Committee (2019)
- Past Member, Board of Directors, Audubon Nature Institute Foundation
- Founding Member, John Charles Olmsted Society
Audubon Boulevard Association Board of Directors, Member; Past President
Bureau of Governmental Research, Chairman, Endowment Committee; Past Chairman, Board of Directors
Chamber of Commerce of New Orleans and the River Region, Past Chairman, Port and Waterways Advisory Committee
Committee for a Better New Orleans, Member; Past Participant, MAC Leadership Forum (1982)
Georgetown University:
- Past Member, Board of Governors
- Past President, Georgetown University Club of Louisiana
- Member, Alumni Admissions Program, Louisiana Admissions Committee
Louisiana Children's Museum, Past President, Board of Directors
Louisiana Nature and Science Center (National Center for Wetlands Education and Society for Environmental Education) Past President, Board of Directors
Metropolitan Area Committee, Member; Past Participant, MAC Leadership Forum (1982)
New Orleans Museum of Art, Fellow Member; Odyssey Ball Co-Chair (2017)
New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute, Member of Class of 2005
Sawtooth Society, Member, Board of Directors
St. Martin's Episcopal School, Member, Treasurer, Board of Trustees; 2018–2019 Recipient of the Martin de Tours Award
Trinity Episcopal Church, Co-Chair Stewardship Campaign (2019–2020); Past Clerk of the Vestry and Member of Executive Committee
Trinity Episcopal School, Past Member of Board of Trustees
United Way, Past Professional Group Solicitor
World Trade Center, Past Member of Transportation Committee
Young Leadership Council, Past Member, Board of Directors

Professional:

American Bar Association:
- Member, Sections of Admiralty and Maritime Law and Business Law, Gaming Law Committee
- Past Co-Chair, Gaming Law Minefield National Institute
Federal Bar Association, Member
Gaming Law Review and Economics, Member, Editorial Board
International Association of Gaming Advisors, Member
International Masters of Gaming Law, Past President; Member of the Executive Committee
Louisiana State Bar Association:
- Chairman, Cuba Task Force
- Member, Sections on Admiralty and International Law
Maritime Law Association of the United States, Member, Committee on Marine Financing
New Orleans Bar Association, Past Co-Chair, Maritime and International Law Committee
New Orleans Maritime Seminar, Member, Advisory and Planning Committee
Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, Member; Past Speaker at Annual Meeting
UNLV Gaming Law Journal, Member, Advisory Board