Jean M. Nelson graduated with a B.A. in history, magna cum laude, from Brown University in 1986.  She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1990.  After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Laughlin E. Waters, United States District Court Judge for the Central District of California, from 1990 through 1992.  From 1993 to 1995, Ms. Nelson was a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enersen.

From 1995 to 2006, Ms. Nelson served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.  From 2001 to 2006, she was an assistant chief of the Criminal Division.  As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ms. Nelson was responsible for the investigation, indictment, trial, and appeal of numerous federal cases involving charges of conspiracy, money laundering, wire and mail fraud, mortgage loan fraud, narcotics trafficking (with extensive wiretap experience) and civil and criminal forfeiture.  As an assistant chief of the Criminal Division, Ms. Nelson oversaw the work of prosecutors handling large-scale narcotics trafficking, tax, and money laundering investigations.  While at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Ms. Nelson tried ten cases and argued numerous appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, including an en banc argument.

From 2006 to 2008, Ms. Nelson served as general counsel for an investment and broker-dealer firm in Orange County, California.  As general counsel, Ms. Nelson supervised outside counsel on civil litigation matters, which included claims of breaches of contract, guarantee, and fiduciary duties, negligence, violation of securities laws, fraud, and civil racketeering.  She also oversaw the execution of business transactions involving the creation of various investment vehicles and financing arrangements for public and private companies.  Because the firm also has a Hong Kong office, Ms. Nelson supervised the resolution of several disputes and transactions involving Chinese and Hong Kong entities.  As to the broker-dealer business, Ms. Nelson was responsible for supervising compliance and disclosure matters and participated in the resolution of several regulatory inquiries concerning disclosure, record keeping, and net capital issues with FINRA.  In October 2006, Ms. Nelson passed the Series 7 securities test.