Belonging

The sixth-grader was participating in a mock trial as part of a school program, and her “client” was a man accused of accidentally starting a forest fire. The evidence revealed he was charged because he had marijuana on his person when questioned by police—though the fire did not originate near his campsite.

“The other side was very focused on him having drugs,” says Amador, who won the case after “proving” the fire was started accidentally by two children playing with matches. The outcome was decided by a judge—the teacher.

Amador enjoyed analyzing evidence and preparing for trial so much, she decided then and there to become an attorney. Today, the 36-year-old associate at Dinsmore & Shohl’s Columbus office finds herself narrowing her focus. “I’ve begun specializing in insurance coverage matters representing insurers and also financial services litigation,” she says. 

Hard work runs in Amador’s family. Her paternal grandfather, Luis, emigrated from Mexico to Utah to work in the mineral mines; while her father, Jose, was drafted into the Vietnam War, where his expertise at repairing cars led to a transfer to the motor pool in Alaska. By the time he returned home to Utah, Luis had fallen ill. Jose set aside college plans to support his family as a mechanic.

Eventually, Amador’s father legally changed his name to Joseph to assimilate into the predominantly white Salt Lake City area. “Coming from a Catholic Mexican family, we were the black sheep,” Amador says. “My older sister, Jennie, and I were two of probably only eight or 10 Hispanic kids in our high school.” She and her sister understood how important education was to both their father and their mother, Cindy, who worked as a medical insurance biller.

Amador attended college at the University of Utah, where her desire to travel led to an interest in foreign languages. She earned an honors degree with a double major in speech communication and Spanish, and she double minored in Russian and international studies. In 2012, she lived in Siberia for four months on a college fellowship. “I think travel teaches you how small you really are within the world,” she says.

Although law school was still on her radar, Amador began to have doubts. “I had never met a Hispanic attorney,” she says, “so every attorney I met before that point didn’t look like me.” But her honors thesis adviser suggested she consider law schools in other parts of the country. When she visited Ohio State University, Amador fell in love with the people and the area. “Columbus is a very diverse and interesting town. We have a small-town feel in the 14th biggest city in the United States.”

Her first case—as an adult—got her hooked. As a summer associate at Dickie McCamey, she was conducting research related to a trucking accident. “It had a set of circumstances that were not fair to anyone; there were a lot of people at fault,” says Amador, whose firm was on the defense side. “Just being able to dive into the case and have those attorneys as mentors made it a learning experience beyond what I could have expected.”

In addition to her regular caseload, Amador informally mentors Dinsmore’s first-year associates and is the newly elected president of the Columbus Bar Association, which has one of the longest-running minority clerkship programs in the country. One of her goals for her presidency, which lasts one year, is to maintain the CBA’s emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion, even as DEI programs are being eliminated across the country. 

“The percentage of people of color or people who consider themselves diverse is not aligned with the percentage of people who are lawyers,” says Amador. “It’s important that we maintain these programs so we keep promising that there is a place in the law for [everyone]. Because if people don’t see themselves in the law, they may not believe that they belong here. And they do.

“I always say if you can see it, you can be it.”

An Open Book 

Kelli Amador loves to travel. She and her husband, Connor Wallace, honeymooned in Italy in 2022. They also spent a Thanksgiving in Scotland and went to Aruba in 2024. Next up? Likely Japan. 

But when Amador can’t get away, she lets her passion for reading transport her. “I’m a voracious reader,” she says. By the end of September 2025, Amador was nearing 40 books for the year.