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Practice Areas: Civil Litigation, Personal Injury, Torts, International and Human Rights, Products Liability, Defective Products, and Securities and Financial Litigation

Additional Information: Bar Association of San Francisco; State Bar of California; The District of Columbia Bar; New York State and American Bar Associations; Fight for Justice Campaign; Consumer Attorneys of California; American Association of Justice.

Holding Corporations Accountable

Robert has played a leading role in the firm's automotive, aviation, defective products, mass torts, tobacco, and qui tam (whistleblower) litigation, taking on many of the world's largest corporations and holding them accountable. Mr. Nelson has served as court-appointed Lead or Co-Lead Counsel in numerous state and federal coordinated proceedings, as well as in more than 20 class actions.

A passionate and experienced advocate for airplane and vehicle accident victims

Since the late 1990s, Robert has worked tirelessly in numerous aviation disaster cases on behalf of victims and the surviving family members of those killed in airplane crashes and other aviation accidents. In addition to obtaining favorable confidential settlements in cases such as the the 2003 Air Algerie crash near Tamanrasset, the 2004 Flash Airlines crash off the coast of Egypt, the 2005 Helios Airways crash near Athens, and the 2006 Gol Airlines crash in the Amazon jungle, Robert is presently working in litigation relating to the China Eastern Airlines crash of a Bombardier CRJ-2000 that led to the deaths of 30+ passengers in Mongolia.

Robert served as lead trial counsel in a wrongful death action involving a defect in Chrysler vehicles that resulted in a punitive damage verdict of $50 million against the company. For his work on the case, Robert received a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award and was Finalist for both the Consumer Attorneys of California Trial Lawyer of the Year award and the San Francisco Trial Lawyer Association's Trial Lawyer of the Year award. California Lawyer called the victory against Chrysler, "one of the year's largest personal injury verdicts," and noted "this was the first park-to-reverse case against Chrysler in 25 years to make it to trial."

In 2010, Robert accomplished the extremely rare feat of receiving a second CLAY award. He was recognized for his work as lead trial counsel in obtaining a $78.5 million whistleblower settlement against the University of Phoenix. The settlement is believed to be among the largest ever achieved under the False Claims Act in a case in which the U.S. Department of Justice did not intervene. Robert also played a lead role in firm's litigation against the tobacco companies by the attorney generals, which resulted in a settlement valued at more than $200 billion, the largest settlement in history.

Robert is a frequent lecturer on class action practice, as well as subject areas such as product liability and whistleblower cases. Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and conducted numerous trials as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California.

Professional Associations and Memberships

· State Bar of California

· State Bar of New York

· Consumer Attorneys of California

· Bar Association of San Francisco

· San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association

· Bar of the District of Columbia

· American Association for Justice

· American Bar Association

· Fight for Justice Campaign

Published Works

· False Claims Roundtable, California Lawyer, June 2010, June 2011, April 2012, January 2013

· Product Liability Roundtable, California Lawyer, December 2007, July 2009, June 2010

· Co-Author, "Class Action Treatment of Punitive Damages Issues after Philip Morris v. Williams: We Can Get There From Here," 2 Charleston Law Review 2, 2008

· Contributing Author, California Class Actions Practice and Procedures (Elizabeth J. Cabraser editor in chief, 2003)

· "The Importance of Privilege Logs," The Practical Litigator, ALI-ABA Publication, Vol. II, No. 2, March 2000

· "To Infer or Not to Infer a Discriminatory Purpose: Rethinking Equal Protection Doctrine," 61 New York University Law Review 334, 1986

Honors and Awards

· Legal 500 recommended lawyer, 2013 - Present

· "California Litigation Star," Benchmark Plaintiff, 2013 - 2014

· Best Lawyers in America, based on peer and blue ribbon panel review, selected for list of "San Francisco's Best Lawyers", 2012 - 2014

· "Lawdragon Finalist," Lawdragon, 2009 - 2011

· "California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award," California Lawyer, 2008, 2010

· "Consumer Attorney of the Year Finalist," Consumer Attorneys of California, 2007, 2010

· "Super Lawyer for Northern California," Super Lawyers, a publication of Thomson Reuters, 2004 - 2013

· "San Francisco Trial Lawyer of the Year Finalist," San Francisco Trial Lawyers' Association, 2007

Past Employment Positions

· Judge Stephen Reinhardt, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Law Clerk, 1987 - 1988

· Northern District of California, Assistant Federal Public Defender, 1988 - 1993

· University of California-Hastings College of the Law, Legal Research and Writing Instructor (Part-time position), 1989 - 1991

Member, Phi Beta Kappa, College Scholar Honors Program, Cornell. Order of the Coif. Articles Editor, New York University Law Review, Root-Tilden Scholarship Program, N.Y.U. School of Law, 1986-1987. Graded First, London School of Economics. Awards and Honors: Consumer Attorney of the Year Finalist, 2007; San Francisco Trial Lawyer of the Year Finalist, 2007; California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award, 2008; "Northern California SuperLawyers," Law & Politics, 2004-2009. Author: "To Infer or Not to Infer a Discriminatory Purpose: Rethinking Equal Protection Doctrine," 61 New York University Law Review 334, 1986; "The Importance of Privilege Logs," 61 The Practical Litigator 2 (ALI-ABA March 2000). Contributing Author, "California Class Actions Practice and Procedures," Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Editor-in-Chief, 2003. Instructor, Legal Research and Writing, University of California, Hastings College of the Law, 1989-1991 (Part-time position). Judicial Clerk to Hon. Stephen Reinhardt, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1987-1988. Assistant Federal Public Defender, Northern District of California, 1988-1993.

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Firm Members: James Finberg Elizabeth Cabraser Richard Heimann Michele Jackson David Fiol Lexi Hazam Barry Himmelstein Richard Heimann Sarah London Mikaela Bernstein Donald Arbitblit Kevin Budner Kelly Dermody Lin Chin Daniel Hutchinson Michael Levin-Gesundheit Shira Tevah Kent Klaudt Scott Nealey Fabrice Vincent