Mr. Nelson was born in Houston, Texas and graduated from Baylor University with a degree in Economics and Marketing. He attended St. Mary’s University School of Law, where he graduated in the top 15% and served as Note & Comment Editor of the St. Mary’s Law Journal. Mr. Nelson is licensed to practice law in Texas and is admitted to the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas

Prior to opening his own practice, Mr. Nelson served as Briefing Attorney for Chief Justice Richard Barajas of the Eighth District Court of Appeals in El Paso, Texas. He then served as Staff Attorney for the United States District Court in Corpus Christi, Texas. Mr. Nelson represented major energy companies, financial institutions and media companies as an attorney at Ogden, Gibson, White & Broocks, L.L.P. in Houston, Texas. At Stepp & Sullivan, P.C., he represented major Protection & Indemnity Clubs and tank barge operators in Jones Act and other maritime-related litigation.

He is the author of "The Supreme Court Takes a Weapon From the Drug War Arsenal: New Defenses to Civil to Civil Drug Forfeiture,” 26 St. Mary’s Law Journal 157 (1994) and "The Proposed Crime Victims’ Federal Constitutional Amendment: Working Toward a Proper Balance,” 49 Baylor L. Rev. 1 (1997).