Kelli Goss Hopkins is an associate in the Raleigh office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough where she practices in the areas of construction law and government contracts. Ms. Hopkins is admitted to practice in all North Carolina state courts; the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.  

 

Ms. Hopkins is also a North Carolina licensed architect. Prior to attending law school, she was a partner in a prominent architectural firm in Raleigh, N.C., where she served as director of Commercial & Corporate Architecture. Ms. Hopkins designed, managed, and supervised construction administration on notable multimillion-dollar projects including 510 Glenwood Avenue Mixed Use project, Baity Hill Married Student Housing for UNC Chapel Hill, and the Capital Park Community Center. Ms. Hopkins has been involved in all phases of commercial, governmental, and institutional projects.  Her experience includes schematic design, design development, construction documents, building code compliance, and building permit reviews at the city level and with State Construction. She has appeared before town councils, appearance commissions, and boards of trustees. 

 

She is a member of the American Bar Association Forum on Construction Industry; the Construction Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association; the North Carolina Bar Association Design Professionals Liaison Committee; the American Institute of Architects (AIA); AIA-North Carolina, and AIA-Triangle.

 

She earned a Juris Doctor in 2007 from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she was on the staff of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation; received certificates of merit for highest grades in professional responsibility and research, reasoning, writing, and advocacy; and received the Gressman-Pollitt Award for Outstanding Oral Advocacy.

 

She earned a Master of Architecture degree from North Carolina State University School of Design where she was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society; received the NC-AIA Award for Design Achievement, the AIA & American Architectural Foundation Scholastic Award, and the Kamphoefner Honor Fellow Award. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Design from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.