Kelly Osterbind, attorney and co-founder of Osterbind Law, PLLC, uses the extensive trial experience she gained as a prosecutor to help injured people in the greater Lynchburg area. In her view, prosecution and injury law are often two sides of the same coin—and the skills and abilities that made her an outstanding prosecutor have made her an even better injury lawyer.
Kelly, originally from Cumberland, Maryland, moved to Virginia to attend Liberty University. A history buff with aspirations of teaching, she fell in love with Virginia. Kelly learned that Liberty University was about to open its law school. She had no interest in selling her soul to a firm—which seemed like the only option for lawyers—but still felt strongly that she belonged in the law. She was right: Kelly thrived in law school, graduating from Liberty University School of Law’s inaugural class in 2007.
Kelly went on to work at the Bedford County Commonwealth Attorney’s office, where she had interned during school, and then at the City of Lynchburg Commonwealth Attorney’s office. In both locations, she tried hundreds upon hundreds of cases, ranging from minor traffic offenses to serious violent crimes such as malicious wounding and attempted murder as well as a case of severe neglect that resulted in death. She encountered every evidentiary trick in the book (and a few that weren’t in any book) and gained a comprehensive mastery of Virginia law, especially regarding the intricacies of DUI and traffic offenses. Kelly loved the complexity, challenge, and fast pace of prosecution. As she worked with injured victims, she learned to relate to their struggles and took pride in helping them regain what had been so violently taken from them.
After Kelly and Brandon had their second child, Kelly stepped away from prosecution, but she never left the law. She taught both undergraduate and law school classes at Liberty University—a job she had started while working as a prosecutor—and stayed up to date with developments in Virginia law. As Brandon expanded his personal injury practice, Kelly continually discussed legal issues with him and helped him brainstorm about case strategies. During that time, she learned that the legal issues, practical dilemmas, and day-to-day challenges of personal injury law mirrored those of prosecution—as did the strategies and personal diligence that had always helped her to effectively overcome those challenges.
In 2017, they decided to take the plunge, opening Osterbind Law to build a practice that would allow them to focus on their family—now expanded to four children—while providing the best representation possible for injured people.
While Kelly mostly works remotely, she’s involved in every case that Osterbind Law handles. She and Brandon discuss how they’ll approach each case and what issues they might encounter, and she acts as a behind-the-scenes strategist, monitoring case updates and staying on top of new developments. Kelly is the troubleshooter at Osterbind Law, deploying her incredible legal knowledge and on-the-ground experience trying cases to anticipate and ward off problems. Osterbind Law is truly a family firm: Kelly and Brandon have been delighted to find that the back-and-forth case discussions they engage in make both of them better in their practice of law.
In addition to the skills earned during her years of trial experience, Kelly has the ability to readily see both the big picture and the tiny details in each case, which helps her put together winning case strategies. She cares deeply about helping injured people recover and has a keen sense of empathy along with a strong belief that there is always hope.
Outside of the firm, Kelly’s first priority is her family: Brandon and their four children. In her “spare” time, she continues to teach online classes in criminal justice and government for the Helms School of Government at Liberty University. She also loves reading, particularly books about business—where she constantly finds new sources of inspiration and new ideas to try—and history.
