Attorney Profile

Personal Profile

Mr. Nelson is a founder of the firm and remains of counsel.

He worked his way through law school as a bailiff and law clerk to the Honorable Frank Gregory of the First District Court of Nevada, 1977-79, who at the time was Nevada’s senior trial judge. While there, he researched and wrote numerous Memorandums of Decision for the Court and served for part of the Oscar Bonavena murder trial and a seventeen defendant prison murder trial. Those experiences provided some of his motivation for limiting his practice to civil litigation.

In 1979, he came to Los Angeles to serve an appointment as law clerk to the Honorable A. Andrew Hauk, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

From 1981-83, he was an in-house counsel with one of the Big Five engineering firms, Kaiser Engineers, where he was the primary legal advisor to several large construction projects in progress, including the Cushenbury Cement Plant, now owned by Mitsubishi, in Lucerne Valley, Ca., and a coal mining, conveying, and washing operation, complete with railhead, for B.C. Coal in Fernie, British Columbia, as well as advisor to the Procurement and Personnel Departments. It was on this job that he first learned to handle construction defect and injury negotiation, as well as commercial matters under the Uniform Commercial Code and the negotiation and documentation of employment disputes.

After marriage took him back to Los Angeles, he went into private practice and later founded the Los Angeles office of a multi-office insurance defense firm, where he practiced for ten years until founding his own firm in 1995. It was there that he honed his ability as a trial lawyer, litigation strategist, supervisor of associates, and office manager. It was also there that he came to appreciate how important it is to the culture of a trial law firm and to the well-being and happiness of its lawyers that professional excellence be emphasized and that trial victory be celebrated.

In addition to his practice areas, Mr. Nelson has also served as an Arbitrator in the Superior Court and for the American Arbitration Association.