Nelson Williams named one of Business Journal’s 30 Under 30
June 22, 2015
Thompson Coburn Associate Nelson Williams has been named as one of the St. Louis region’s top young professionals by the St. Louis Business Journal.
The Business Journal selected its “30 Under 30” class for 2015 from more than 450 nominations. Nelson is one of only three attorneys to receive the honor this year.
Nelson is a member of Thompson Coburn's Human Resources practice area, where he has developed a special focus on defending class and conditional certification actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. He joined the firm in January 2011 after serving as a summer associate here in 2008 and 2009.
In one significant case, Nelson played a lead role in helping a global computer software company defeat class certification in a $50 million class action. In that lawsuit, hundreds of IT employees claimed they were owed millions in unpaid wages. The court sided with Thompson Coburn’s client on all class-related issues. Nelson has also helped achieve several other major victories in national class actions, including a motion for judgment on the pleadings that significantly limited the scope of a lawsuit.
Lauren Bruning, an in-house attorney for Energizer and a former Thompson Coburn associate, was one of the individuals who offered letters in support of Nelson’s nomination.
“I found Nelson to be an aggressive but thoughtful litigator who excelled at legal research and writing. When it came to finding a case cite or developing a litigation strategy, Nelson was relentless; he would not give up until he found something that could work for our clients,” she wrote.
Nelson earned his J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis and bachelor’s degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Spanish from Duke University.
He served on the board of directors for Shearwater Education Foundation from 2010-2013, and most recently was a 2015 Corporate Achiever for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, where he raised over $2,000 in support of research and treatment of MS. In addition, Nelson was recently appointed as Vice-Chair of the Labor & Employment Committee for the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division.
At Thompson Coburn, Nelson served as the lead organizer of Thompson Coburn’s 2015 HR Law Seminar, attended by nearly 300 in-house counsel and human resources professionals from across the St. Louis region. He also serves on the firm’s Diversity Committee, and is an active leader in Thompson Coburn’s recruitment efforts and Summer Associate program.
The 2015 “30 Under 30” winners will be featured in the July 10 issue of the Business Journal and honored July 16 with an event in the Caramel Room at Bissinger’s Historic Chocolate Factory.