MELISSA GIAIMO
Assistant Perspectives Editor
Professor Grant S. Nelson’s appointment at Pepperdine not only fills the School of Law’s void for a real estate finance professor, but also increases the school’s visibility and prestige.
“A professor of his caliber will increase the respect that the legal community will have for Pepperdine,” first-year law student John Kay said.
Nelson is regarded as the nation’s leading real estate finance expert, and is a renowned scholar of property and remedies. He has taught real estate law for 40 years, 16 of them at UCLA, and has written many books and articles.
Nelson will assume teaching as the William H. Renhquist Professor of Law on August 1, 2007, with the full support of the Rehnquist family. He will teach first-year property classes and real estate finance law.
His appointment is a victory for Pepperdine, which had been battling UCLA to acquire Nelson.
“Hiring Professor Nelson is a significant watershed for the School of Law because it demonstrates that Pepperdine can lure a distinguished professor away from a leading national law school, UCLA,” said Pepperdine law professor Robert Purshaw.
Nelson taught briefly at Pepperdine as a distinguished professor from 1987 to 1988 when he left to accept a position at UCLA in 1991. This year he made the decision to return to Pepperdine.
“Now he finally comes home,” said Shelley Ross Saxer, associate dean for academics at the Law School. “I think [UCLA] is probably very sad.”
For Pepperdine, Nelson is a tour-de-force of a professor.
“He brings outstanding teaching skills, scholarship, collegiality, dedication to our mission [and is] a Christian” Saxer said.
Although Pepperdine has several property law professors, the school was lacking a dedicated real-estate finance professor.
“I am thrilled that Professor Nelson would choose Pepperdine because Pepperdine doesn’t have an institutional real-estate program like UCLA,” said Seaver senior Brendan Groves, research assistant to Ken Starr, dean of the School of Law.
Students hope Nelson will not only help students interested in real estate law academically, but also through his connections in the real estate market.
“It’s really good, because there’s a lot of people interested in real estate,” third-year law student Liz Jackson said.
Not only is Nelson a true scholar, but he is also a beloved professor. UCLA School of Law awarded him the Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2000 and the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2002. UCLA’s law classes of 2004 and 2005 elected him Professor of the Year, as did three classes at Missouri-Columbia School of Law.
Pushaw spoke to the immense teaching abilities of Nelson.
“I have been Grant’s colleague at two different law schools, and I can honestly say that students are in awe of his command of the law and his ability to explain clearly even the most complex topics,” Pushaw said.
A 10-year friend of Nelson, Pepperdine Law Professor Tom Bost, also attests to his teaching skills, in addition to his commitment to family and Christian faith.
“He is one of the most respected law professors in the U.S., [and] he is one of the most popular faculty members at UCLA,” Bost said.
Nelson has had a long-standing relationship with the university, not only with Pushaw and Bost, but also School of Law Dean Emeritus Ron Phillips. His daughter also attended the School of Law.
Nelson’s appointment is next in a recent surge of eminent legal scholars to come to Pepperdine School of Law, including Doug Kmiec and Ken Starr and also many famous speakers, such as Justice Alito, Jonathan Varat and Jesse Choper.
“Certainly, Ken Starr is attracting attention, but there are a lot of these relationships that have been established over the years,” said Saxer.
02-15-2007
