Assistant Federal Public Defender

Paul Nelson has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender since 1997. He is the appellate specialist in the office and has been designated a member of the National Federal Defender Sentencing Network organized by the Office of Defender Services Training Branch.

Paul is a graduate of Michigan State University and a cum laude graduate of the University of Toledo College of Law. After serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Benjamin F. Gibson, he joined the law firm of Tolley, Fisher & Verwys, P.C., later becoming a shareholder in the firm. He is a member, and former president, of the board of directors of Second Harvest Gleaners Food Bank of West Michigan, Inc.,