Caleb E. Nelson

Caleb Nelson teaches civil procedure, federal courts and statutory interpretation. He is a past winner of UVA’s All-University Teaching Award as well as the national Federalist Society’s Paul M. Bator Award (which recognizes excellence in both teaching and scholarship).  His articles have appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the Virginia Law Review and other leading journals. He is also the author of a casebook on statutory interpretation, published by Foundation Press. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute.

Nelson earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard, where he majored in mathematics, won the Wendell Prize and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior.  Before attending Yale Law School, he was managing editor of The Public Interest, a domestic-policy quarterly.  After earning his law degree, Nelson clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court.  From 1995 to 1998, he practiced law with the Cincinnati firm of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, where he focused on appellate litigation. He joined the Virginia faculty as an associate professor in 1998 and became a full professor in 2003. 

Scholarship Profile: Shedding New Light on Old Problems (Virginia Journal 2007)