Susan Beth Richard Nelson (born March 22, 1952) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

for the

United States District Court for the District of Minnesota The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapolis ...

. She was previously a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

with the same court.

Early life and education

Nelson was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

and graduated from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree with high honors in 1974 and received her

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of Pittsburgh School of Law The University of Pittsburgh School of Law (Pitt Law) is the law school of the University of Pittsburgh, a public research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1895 and became a charter member of the Association of American ...

. Nelson's first job was a

camp counselor A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

and waterfront director at Camp Interlocken in Windsor, New Hampshire during the summers of 1973 and 1974. Later in 1974, Nelson became a bank teller at the First Federal Savings & Loan in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Between January and June 1975 she worked was a waitress at Stouffers Restaurant and later at the Pittsburgh

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

as a camp counselor for the summer.

Career

Nelson's first professional employment was an unpaid internship with the

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the agency in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania responsible for protecting and preserving the land, air, water, and public health through enforcement of the state's environmental laws ...

and then as a summer associate with the law firm of Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay in Pittsburgh from 1977 through 1980. From 1980 to 1983 she worked as an associate with the firm of Tyler, Cooper & Alcorn in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

. From 1984 to 2000 Nelson worked as an associate (promoted to partner in 1988) with the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. As a partner with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi her civil trial practice involved complex

product liability Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause. Although the word "product" has ...

and

mass tort A mass tort is a civil action involving numerous plaintiffs against one or a few defendants in state or federal court. The lawsuits arise out of the defendants causing numerous injuries through the same or similar act of harm (e.g. a prescription d ...

lawsuits in Minnesota and the United States, including the 1998 landmark tobacco trial. Nelson also worked in various positions with Minnesota Women Lawyers since 1996.

Federal judicial service

Nelson was appointed as

for the District of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, and took the oath of office on June 12, 2000. She filled a new position and became the sixth magistrate judge. Nelson was recommended to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

for a seat on the

by Senator

Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member o ...

on November 3, 2009. On April 21, 2010, Obama nominated Nelson to the court, for the seat vacated by James M. Rosenbaum. She was confirmed by the Senate with unanimous consent on December 17, 2010. She received her commission on December 22, 2010. Nelson assumed senior status on December 31, 2021.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Susan Richard 1952 births Living people 21st-century American women judges Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Oberlin College alumni Lawyers from Buffalo, New York United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama United States magistrate judges University of Pittsburgh School of Law alumni