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About Gretchen Nelson
Gretchen M. Nelson graduated from Georgetown University Law School in 1983. This prestigious feat would not have had happened without the inspiration of her father, James A. Nelson. It was with him that Ms. Nelson found her love of fighting for the justice that we all deserve.
This would lead her to admission to the State Bar of California in January 1984 and thereafter becoming an associate at the Los Angeles offices of Morgan, Wenzel & McNicholas. There she worked mainly on cases involving insurance defense until 1986 when a midair collision between an Aeromexico jet and a private plane took the lives of 82 people in the air and on the ground. Ms. Nelson, not only, fought tirelessly for the relatives of the deceased but had the empathy to prepare them emotionally for the trial that lay ahead.
In 1988, Ms. Nelson joined the firm of Corinblit and Seltzer. It was during this time that she shifted her focus to litigating on behalf of class claimants in antitrust and securities fraud claims. When the firm disbanded ten years later, Ms. Nelson continued practicing on her own until the New York firm of Kreindler & Kreindler chose her and Stuart Fraenkel to open their new Los Angeles office.
During this time, Ms. Nelson has been an active member of the California legal community; serving a three-year term on the Board of Trustees for the State Bar of California and becoming that organization’s first Treasurer (2012-2013). She is an emeritus member of the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles. She was, also, a past President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Chair of the Litigation Section of that organization.
Having earned the respect and clout of her peers, Ms. Nelson raised attention to increasing diversity within the legal profession – both in law firms and on the bench – and helping to keep female attorneys active in the law while balancing family life.
In 2015, Ms. Nelson and Mr. Fraenkel opened the firm of Nelson & Frankel LLP. Here she continues to practice in the area of complex class action litigation, while handling business tort claims. She also represents the victims of accidents on cruise ships and other maritime claims.