John William Nelson

I'm a product of DeKalb County, Georgia.  I attended the DeKalb County school system until 11th grade.  From 11th and 12th grade I attended George Walton Academy in Monroe, Georgia.  After high school, I spent 4 years at the University of Georgia learning about history and watching some good football.

I helped a friend start his own law firm after I graduated from college.  I learned a lot from this experience and decided I wanted to become a lawyer.  This led me to Cumberland School of Law, part of Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama.

I spent 3 years in Birmingham learning about the law.  I took every single litigation class offered at Cumberland Law School.  I was a member of both the Trial Advocacy Board and the Moot Court Board.  I participated in mock trials at Cumberland, and I represented Cumberland in the American Bar Association's NAAC Moot Court Competition.  My Moot Court Team won our regional competition in Dallas and competed in the national finals tournament in Chicago.  I became a member of the Order of Barristers because of my oral advocacy and legal writing skills.

At Cumberland I was a member of the American Journal of Trial Advocacy.  I rose to the level of Senior Associate Editor.  The Journal published one of my papers while I was still a student about when the government can search your electronics during a border crossing.  Border Confidential: Why Searches of Laptop Computers at the Border Should Require Reasonable Suspicion, 31 Am. J. Trial Advoc. 137 (2007).

After Cumberland, my wife and I spent a year in Norwich, England, at the University of East Anglia's Norwich School of Law ("UEA").  I studied international law, focusing on intellectual property and information technology law.  I received a Master of Laws (LLM, or Legum Magister in fancy Latin) from UEA with distinction.  I won the award for the best dissertation, and my dissertation was later published by the McGeorge Law Review.  The Virtual Property Problem: What property rights in virtual resources might look like, how they might work, and why they are a bad idea, 41 McGeorge Law Review 281 (2010).

My wife and I moved back to Georgia, and I began working for a locl government lawyer in Covington, Georgia.  That firm represented Newton County, Georgia, as well as a number of other governmental organizations.  I learned a lot about government law, property law, and environmental law, and tried my first jury trial.

I then worked for Professional Boundaries Inc ("PBI") for about a year as their Chief Legal Officer and Chief Technology Officer.  PBI is a small, but national education company focusing on ethics and professionalism training in various professional industries, but primarily within the medical field.

I then opened my own law firm.  My law firm focuses on representing regular folks and small businesses.  I represent consumers fighting against companies that have lied, cheated, or hurt them.  I represent small businesses and guide them through the process of formation and growth.  I represent technology startups and the unique issues they face.

At the Nelson Law Chambers LLC, we protect people.  We protect property.  And we protect small businesses.