Frederick Nelson, JD '83
Distinguished and varied law career, lover of Russian and Ukrainian art
Fred Nelson and his wife Shannon Fullen Nelson moved from Columbus, Ohio to Brewster, Massachusetts in October 2024. They have two children: their daughter is graduating from Santa Clara University and their son attends Boston University.
Fred graduated from Hamilton College and from Harvard Law School (where as a member of the class of 1983 he was fortunate to be on the winning team and best oralist in the Ames Moot Court competition. He also was President of the Harvard Society for Law and Public Policy).
Much of his career has been in government. He was a trial judge and later a court of appeals judge and retired visiting judge in Ohio, sandwiching eight years as Senior Advisor and Director of Major Litigation for state Attorney General Mike DeWine. Previously, Fred had served as Majority Counsel to a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, as Associate White House Counsel, and as a congressional Chief of Staff.
While volunteering in Kiev and Moscow under the auspices of the ABA’s Central and East European Law Initiative shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union, he became interested in Russian and Ukrainian art, and he and Shannon have built a modest collection of paintings and drawings. In addition to art, they greatly enjoy taking in the beauties of the Cape.