Susan East Nelson is a writing contest winner for NCVLI’s 2014 Conference. She is a third-year law student at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through her law education, Ms. Nelson has developed an impressive resume of skills in legislative drafting and public policy research. Ms. Nelson is currently engaged in developing federal legislation to increase the penalties on criminals who download child pornography as well as developing model state legislation leading to increased funding for victim services and enhanced law enforcement capabilities to fight this devastating crime.

For the past two years, Ms. Nelson has served as Research Assistant for Professor Ruby Andrew assisting her with scholarly and legislative research as well as class preparation and support. Last summer Ms. Nelson has accepted a fellowship with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty where she will spend ten weeks working on national policy and legal issues surrounding those issues. Ms. Nelson will complete her law degree in December 2014 where she then plans to take the Massachusetts Bar in February 2015 followed by the Louisiana Bar in July 2015.

Ms. Nelson is married to Danny Nelson and they live in an energy-efficient, sustainable and hurricane-proof home that they designed and built in Baton Rouge. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Communications from Louisiana State University and is a graduate of the Baton Rouge Area Leadership Class where she is active in the Leadership alumni organization. She is also a member of the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge where she serves on the Education and Mainstream Committees.