Stephen Charles Nault

I was born and raised in Rhode Island and began my career in commercial real estate in 2006 — first as a financial analyst, then as property manager of a New England office park. In 2010 I relocated to Nashville to take a position in the real estate department at Sitel (a global business process outsourcing company), where I oversaw a leasing portfolio of more than 120 office sites across thirty-plus countries. After Sitel I built my own practice as a residential and commercial real estate broker, working with several brokerages before founding my own — Accredited Realty LLC. Along the way, the same lesson kept repeating: every meaningful real estate deal lives or dies on the legal language behind it.

That observation pointed me toward Nashville School of Law. Today I am still involved in the real estate business, but most of my attention is on the legal practice — counseling small business owners, real estate clients, contractors, landlords and tenants, and the occasional fellow attorney needing consulting assistance or expert-witness testimony in a real estate matter.

I also practice juvenile defense as a mission. Kids who end up in front of a judge rarely got there on their own, and the consequences can follow them long after the case is closed. The work is not lucrative, but it is necessary. I take a rehabilitative approach to representation, and I push the system to do the same. It also gives me the chance to look a kid in the eye and say, "If you do this at eighteen, you won't be able to get a decent job or even an apartment — you'll be a felon." I defend my juvenile clients vigorously. But I do not make excuses for them behind closed doors.

Outside the office I am a father of four, which means most weekends are spent at a ball field, a soccer match, or a golf tournament. One of my children has severe special needs. Without my legal background I would be completely lost navigating her care, and the experience has made me intimately familiar with the legal landscape around special-needs children — especially special-needs trusts. With what little time is left between work and family, I stay active. I have always loved the martial arts and currently practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu.