NICOLE ALBERTSON
News Assistant
Sometimes men will do crazy things for the women they love. Some shave their head, wax their backs, move to the suburbs, or trade the sports car for a minivan. William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law, Grant Nelson took his devotion to the next level. When his college girlfriend not so subtly suggested that he attend law school after graduation, Nelson filled out the application for the University of Minnesota Law School and registered for classes in the fall of 1960.
Although Nelson ultimately said goodbye to his sweetheart a short while after enrolling, his love-driven decision to begin law school has fueled his passion and inspired his life. Now teaching at Pepperdine’s School of Law, Nelson is celebrating his 41st year as a law professor and radiating enthusiasm and excitement for his profession.
“I wound up in law school because I wanted to impress a girlfriend,” Nelson said. “I made an irrational decision that turned out to be a great decision. And it has been a great experience.”
With more than 40 years of experience in practice and teaching, Nelson is continuing to make lasting impressions and irreplaceable connections with his students.
“He had practical legal experience and analyzed it into straight-forward teaching,” said Monica Duda, former UCLA School of Law student. “You could envision how things really worked in real life and he made every case law interesting.”
Nelson has received several awards throughout his career, including Outstanding Professor at the University of Missouri – Columbia School of Law, Professor of the Year at two other law schools as a visiting professor, UCLA’s Rutter Award of Excellence in Teaching and the Distinguished Teaching Award at UCLA. His reputation and experience has made him one of the leading real estate law professors in the country.
While he is a new member to the Pepperdine staff, Nelson’s path circled the globe and built his experience before he landed at Pepperdine to finish his career. After graduating from law school in 1963, Nelson volunteered to serve his country during the Vietnam War as part of the military police. But “miraculously,” he said, he was taken off duty.
“It was likely that I would be drafted, but I also wanted to serve my country.”
He was primarily stationed at Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Fort Gordon, Georgia. With his completion of two years of active service and five years in the reserves, Nelson returned to a law firm in Missouri until he turned to the University of Minnesota to begin teaching law in 1967.
“I always wanted to become a teacher,” Nelson said. “My professors encouraged me and it just worked.”
Although Nelson originally set his sights on constitutional law, he fell into his passion once more when a real estate professor at University of Missouri took a leave of absence and Nelson stepped up to fill his shoes.
“It amazing because he knows how to make property fascinating,” said former UCLA School of Law student, and Nelson’s former teaching assistant, Nina English. “He is fascinated by real estate law and he really loves it.”
Nelson continued teaching in Minnesota for 24 years where he was the Enoch H. Crowder & Earl F. Nelson Professor of Law.
From 1987 to 1988 Nelson tested the West Coast as a visiting professor at Pepperdine, teaching Real Estate Finance and Property. And after almost a quarter of a century teaching at Minnesota, Nelson moved with his wife and children to the sand and surf but sidestepped past a chance to teach at Pepperdine, opting for a position at UCLA School of Law in 1991.
“It was not an easy decision,” Nelson said. “I always had it in the back of my mind that I’d come back to Pepperdine because I am sympathetic with the content of Pepperdine and [its] morals. But if I had to do it again I would probably make the same decision.”
He became a full-time professor at UCLA in 1991 and continued to educate and entertain law students for 17 years.
“You always remember things that he taught you,” English said. “He knows how to reach students and that is because of his experience. He does a really good job at teaching common sense law while still making it intellectually stimulating.”
Completing more than 40 years of teaching, Nelson continues to thrive on each classroom experience, equating each class with stage performance for an actor.
“Teaching is the high point of the day,” Nelson said. “A good class produces a high. And I’m apprehensive, but I also look forward to it.
Now that his journey has brought him back to Malibu, Nelson has seen Pepperdine’s potential and is helping raise the bar.
“I want to help our dean [Ken Starr] bring Pepperdine into the top tier of American law schools,” Nelson said. “Now is the time to make a quantum leap and in five or six years Pepperdine should be in the top 50 law schools.”
With the top tier law schools consisting of the top 150 schools in America, Nelson is doing his part to battle the competition. He has already published books and articles on real estate finance law, property, and remedies, and is currently working on redoing a property casebook and a recently completed article for the Missouri law review.
“Scholarly work is an important part to the same job,” Nelson said. “Or else you are just relying on everyone else who has written in the law. We have a responsibility to be top notch scholars and outstanding teachers.”
With no talks of retirement on the horizon, Nelson’s love for teaching and real estate law keeps radiating and inspiring enthusiasm in himself and in his students.
11-08-2007
