Tunnell & Raysor is a law firm that has been serving Delaware for more than 130 years.
About twenty-two years ago, attorney Kelly Dunn Gelof joined Tunnell & Raysor P.A, and she hasn’t looked back ever since. I got the chance to sit down with her and learn first-hand why she absolutely loves the work that she does.
She tells me that she comes from humble beginnings as her parents got pregnant with her during senior year.
“I did not grow up with much financially,” Kelly says, “but I did grow up with a lot of love.”
Kelly says she felt like her parents gave up so much to have her, so she wanted to go into a profession that helped people while being financially stable. That, in turn, would help her give back to her parents who gave up so much for her.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in communications from Syracuse University and her law degree from Widener University School of Law. After working in Philadelphia for a few years, she moved Delaware with her husband, who is also an attorney.
She tells me the work/life balance is hard because not only is she an attorney, but she is also a wife, a mom and a caregiver to her mother. Even though it brings its challenges, Kelly says she wouldn’t change her life for anything.
“What makes me happy and what keeps me going is that I am integrating my personal life with my work life. Our law firm handles almost every type of practice area. Why I went into becoming an attorney was to help people truly out there.”
Kelly says one of her favorite things about being a managing partner at Tunnel & Raysor is the fact that she gets to help the people of Delaware. When it comes to her clients, she desires to be their voice.
She says even if she has to move her schedule around, she is more than willing to do whatever it takes to make her clients a priority. At the end of the day, she wants them to feel like their family.
“What I say is trust me to be your voice, or trust Tunnell & Raysor to be your voice. That’s actually something that came from me because it’s how I feel. What I feel is that it’s our job is to be the voice for the victims or for the client or whoever comes to us because they’re not being heard or they can’t be heard for whatever reason. We help them have a voice and we are their voice”
