Today on the podcast, Robin and Lester interview Georgia Supreme Court Justice Nels Peterson
Guest Bio
Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal to
the Supreme Court of Georgia effective January 1, 2017. He was re-elected
statewide for a six-year term in 2018. He previously served as a judge of the
Georgia Court of Appeals, to which he was appointed by Governor Deal effective
January 1, 2016.
Presiding Justice Peterson graduated from Kennesaw State University with a B.S.in political science and a minor in economics. While at KSU, he served as
President of Student Government and Chair of the Student Advisory Counsel to the
Board of Regents, and was named KSU Student of the Year and Outstanding
Senior in Political Science. Presiding Justice Peterson received his J. D. from
Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he was Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal
of Law and Public Policy, Executive Vice-President of the Federalist Society, and
was a finalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition.
Upon graduation from law school, Presiding Justice Peterson served as a law clerk to Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the
Eleventh Circuit. Presiding Justice Peterson then practiced at King & Spalding
LLP in Atlanta, where he focused on securities litigation, corporate governance
litigation, merger-related litigation, and appellate litigation. Presiding Justice Peterson then moved to the Governor’s Office, where he served as Executive Counsel and Deputy Executive Counsel to Governor Sonny Perdue.
In addition to his role as the Governor’s chief legal advisor, Presiding Justice
Peterson also served as a senior advisor on a broad array of policy issues, including
water, natural resources, education, the judiciary, and criminal justice.
At the expiration of Governor Perdue’s term, Presiding Justice Peterson moved to
the Attorney General’s Office as Counsel for Legal Policy, where he oversaw
major policy issues and litigation, as well as the rewrite of the state’s Open
Records and Open Meetings Acts.
In 2012, the Attorney General appointed Presiding Justice Peterson as Georgia’s first Solicitor General. In that position, he oversaw all of the state’s civil appellate litigation, played a lead role in all policy-related litigation, and served as a senior advisor to the Attorney General. Presiding Justice Peterson was then appointed Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and Secretary to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, a position he held until his appointment to the Court of Appeals.
Presiding Justice Peterson has served on numerous government and non-profit
boards and committees, has received a variety of honors and awards, lives with his
wife Jennifer and two children in Cobb County, and is an active member of
Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.
Links:
Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson – Supreme Court of Georgia (gasupreme.us)
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
See You In Court (seeyouincourtpodcast.org)
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
