International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP announced today that senior partner Steven C. Nelson has returned to the Firm’s Minneapolis office after 16 years as head of the Firm’s Hong Kong office. A veteran of over 45 years of international law practice, Mr. Nelson will continue to provide leadership to Dorsey’s growing Asian operations and its rapidly-developing international commercial arbitration practice, focusing particularly on the increasing number of disputes arising in U.S.-China trade and investment.
“With the increasing strength of our Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing offices,” noted Dorsey Managing Partner Ken Cutler, “we concluded that our best use of Steve’s vast experience in cross-border transactions and disputes was to bring him back to Minneapolis where many of our clients have interests in Asia and will benefit from his insights regarding the region. His return complements the addition of other great lawyers across the Firm who will enable Dorsey to help clients address the phenomenal growth of inbound investment from Asia, particularly China. Steve is a world-class lawyer with a great reputation in the United States and internationally, and we are excited to have him back at the hub of our global practice.”
Mr. Nelson began his career with the U.S. State Department where he served as principal lawyer on the Strategic Arms Limitation Agreements with the Soviet Union and helped draft those ground-breaking agreements. After leaving the government for private practice, including three years in Brussels, he was once again pressed into service by the State Department as a member of the NATO Board of Appeals, where he “moonlighted” for 23 years while looking after the interests of Dorsey’s clients in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He is a widely-recognized expert on international legal matters, having served as Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law and Practice and as the representative of the ABA on the Council of the International Bar Association. He chairs the International Bar Association’s Committee on International Trade in Legal Services.