Nelson, Michael R.

When Jay founded our firm in 1986, it was his goal to create a litigation practice that provided personalized service to individuals and small businesses that were in distress.  For over two decades, Jay has remained true to those goals, providing service to our clients, the legal community of Northern Virginia and the greater Northern Virginia community for decades.

During this period, Jay has provided representation in the areas of family law, criminal law, commercial and civil litigation, personal injury, and wills.

Jay has provided this representation for clients residing, or needing representation, in the cities of Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax; the towns of Falls Church, Herndon and Vienna; and the counties of Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford. 

Additionally, throughout his thirty-four year legal career, Jay has represented political candidates, parties and committees on election law litigation and enforcement matters, locally as well as throughout the United States.  During this period, Jay served as General Counsel of the Democratic Party of Virginia (1997 until 2000 and from 2004-2008), State Party Counsel of the Democratic Party of Virginia (1994-1997), as a member of  the Democratic National Committee’s National Lawyers Council (1998-2008) and as Virginia counsel for Democratic Party candidates for national office.  See Election Law.

Jay has served the Fairfax County Legal Community in a number of capacities:

Fairfax Bar Association.

--Jay has served as a Member of the Fairfax Bar Association’s Board of Directors since 2004.  

--Presently Jay serves as the President of the FBA and serves on the Board’s Executive Committee. 

--Consistent with Jay’s commitment to Alternative Dispute Resolution, including Mediation, Jay served as either co-chairman or Chairman of the Conciliation Program from 2001-2007.  The Conciliation Program (now named Conciliation Task Force) serves the Fairfax County Circuit Court and the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court by training and providing conciliators to facilitate discussion between parties with motions pending before those Courts.  The Motions are either settled or the issues significantly narrowed inn over three-quarters of the cases assisted by conciliators.  Domestic Relations cases are frequently referred to the conciliation program, at times the lessons learned in conciliation help the parties to settle the entire case. 

--Since 2001, Jay has frequently been the moderator and/or a guest speaker for Continuing Legal Education classes concerning the Conciliation Program.  In 200_, Jay served as the moderator and a presenter at the initial training program for the Conciliation Program for the Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

--Jay has served as a Neutral Case Evaluator by appointment of the Fairfax County Circuit Court, and has assisted in the training of new Neutral Case Evaluators.

--Jay also served on the Fairfax Bar Association’s General District Court Committee from 1990 – 1997.

--Jay has been a member of the  Fairfax Bar Association since 1986. 

American Inns of Court/George Mason American Inn of Court.

The American Inns of Court American Inns of Court (AIC) are designed to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar. (http://www.innsofcourt.org). The George Mason American Inn of Court is an amalgam of judges, lawyers, law professors and law students and is the only American Inn of Court serving Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties and the City of Alexandria. The Inn meets six times a year both to "break bread" and to hold programs and discussions on matters of ethics, skills and professionalism.
Jay has been a member of the George Mason American Inn of Court
since 1995, and has served as the President (2007-2008), President-Elect (2006-2007), and Treasurer (2002-2006) of the Inn.  Jay has been a Master of the Bar since 2002.

Jay’s work with the George Mason American Inn of Court led to his
appointment to serve as a member of the American Inns of Court Pegasus Scholarship Trust committee. The Pegasus Scholarships Program is one of The American Inns of Court’s most successful programs.  It is an exchange program, wherein young English barristers travel to the United States for six weeks to learn about the United States legal system and young American Inn of Court members travel to London for four to six weeks to learn about the English legal system. (http://www.innsofcourt.org/Content)

In April 2007, the American Inns of Court held its annual meeting as an international event, jointly with the Commonwealth Bar of Great Britain.  Jay was a presenter as a member of the Conflicts of Interest Panel.

American Bar Association.

Jay has served in several capacities in the American Bar Association. (See American Bar Association).  Most recently, Jay was selected to serve as the Fairfax Bar Association’s Delegate in the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates.  The control and administration of the ABA is vested in its House of Delegates, the policy-making body of the association. (http://www.abanet.org/leadership/delegates).  Jay is one of just 80 delegates to represent a local bar association in the House.   

Admission to Practice. 

Jay was admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia in 1977 and in Virginia in 1986.  Jay is presently an inactive member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Jay has been admitted to practice law before: the United States Supreme Court; the Supreme Court of Virginia; the District of Columbia Court of Appeals; the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, First, Fourth and Federal Circuits; the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Virginia.

Professional Memberships.

Jay is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Inns of Court, the Fairfax Bar Association and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.  Jay is a Master of the Bar in the George Mason American Inn of Court.

Education.

Jay earned his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1976 and graduated Cum Laude from Georgetown University in 1973.  Jay was one of the first students to graduate from the College with an interdisciplinary major.  Jay’s areas of concentration were Political Science, Psychology and Sociology.
 
Who’s Who.

Jay has been recognized by inclusion in Marquis’ Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World.

Lectures and Publications.

Jay has a number of publications and appearances.  These include the following:

--American Inns of Court, Conflicts of Interest Panel (April 2007)

--Continuing Legal Education:
  --Circuit Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District
   Court  Motions Conciliation (March 2007)
 
  --Moderator, Circuit Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations
   District Court Motions Conciliation        
--Presenter, Fairfax County Circuit Court Neutral Case
 Evaluation Training (September 2007)
 
  --Moderator and Presenter, Prince William County Juvenile and
Domestic Relations  District Court Conciliation Training Program
 --During 2009, Jay was invited to be a Member of the Virginia
  CLE Family Law Practice Area Advisory Group.

Virginia State Board of Elections:

 --Presenter, 2009 Election Uniformity Conference, Opening Session:  
  “Campaigning in the Courts-The Rise of Litigation” (June 2009)

--Goodman, Lee, Myerson, Jay, Piper, Chris, and Spain, Mary,
 “Subcommittee Report—Study to Reorganize and Clarify the
 Campaign Finance Disclosure Act” (2005).

Articles:
Myerson, Jay B. and Young, John Hardin, Campaigns and Elections,
 “Lessons From Virginia, A Democratic Perspective” (February
 1996).

Young, John Hardin, Myerson, Jay B. and McCarthy, Marcia, Campaign
 and Elections, “Election Day TNT Using Legal Teams to Protect
 Voter Rights” (February 2002).