It’s All About the Relationships

Born and raised in New York City, Jared Nelson was earning his B.A. in government at the University of Virginia, and imagining a career in the FBI or CIA, when he met Joelle, now his wife, who is from Louisiana. “My journey truly started when I came down to Louisiana,” Nelson says. “I think the CIA might have been fantasy,” he says, laughing. “But it all sounded pretty cool.”

It didn’t sound entirely realistic, though. So after he earned his master’s in public administration at Southern University in Baton Rouge, he began work at Acadiana Cares, a nonprofit that helped place people with disabilities into housing. “I was also a case manager for the homeless population, which meant interacting with the homeless population to help them get the benefits to make sure that they have means to survive on the streets,” he says. The job required a skill that would mark every stop on his journey: relationship-building.

That ability was put to the test at the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections’ Division of Probation and Parole, where for seven years he worked as a state probation and parole agent. “In Louisiana, probation and parole officers are state agents that have full-fledged arrest powers, so we were state law enforcement officers,” he says.

During that time, he often found himself in the courtroom participating in revocation hearings, obtaining warrants, and discussing cases with prosecutors and judges. “I started developing personal and professional relationships with judges, assistant district attorneys, defense attorneys, private attorneys, government attorneys,” he says. “We’d have all these interesting interactions. I began to look forward to all the times I had to be in the courtroom.”

He also enjoyed building relationships with parolees. “The impact that I had on my clients’ lives is something I won’t forget,” he says. “I would develop rapport with them to the point where we would have open dialogue. If you were in technical violation of the conditions of your supervised release, I would work with the person—without court intervention—to address the violation and advise the court on what we did to address it. However, there were violations that were immediately reported the court, which the court had to address and which I could not help with.”

Some interactions were positive, others negative, but the open-dialogue approach worked. “It was to the point when I arrested somebody, they would shake my hand,” he says. “They’re like, ‘Listen. You were trying, man, I messed up and I apologize.’ And I’m sitting there like, ‘Well, I’m the guy bringing you to jail. You don’t have to apologize to me.’”

When Nelson would debrief Joelle on his days, she’d often say, “You’re either going to be a politician or lawyer, so just pick one.” Meanwhile, more and more people started to tell him he ought to consider law school—even district court judges.

“My big takeaway is, a lot of times having a good rapport with other attorneys goes a long way.” —Jared Nelson

So, in 2015, as his wife began her Ph.D. program, Nelson enrolled at Southern University Law Center. He’d work probation from 5 in the morning until 1 p.m., then head to school in full uniform. His nontraditional path presented hurdles. “As a part-time student, I didn’t have the privilege of clerkships, externships or fellowships, or to be a summer clerk who was then hired by a firm,” he says. “I gave myself no choice but to excel in law school and find a good job that way.” He graduated third in his class.

He was leaning toward criminal law. “The lawyer friends I made said, ‘Come on, Jared. You have to be a public defender or assistant district attorney. You’d make the best deals,’” he says.

He landed at the Office of the Attorney General as associate AG, taking with him valuable insight he learned at the DOC. “During my time with Probation and Parole, I was able to interact with various attorneys and judges in different judicial districts in the state, and so I was comfortable with going into the courtroom and potentially running into somebody that I’d interacted with during my time at the DOC,” he says. “My big takeaway is, a lot of times having a good rapport and good working relationships with other attorneys goes a long way.”

He eventually joined Liskow & Lewis in late 2019, and, in October 2024, he started at Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith. “Right now, I’m learning. I’m focused on the nuances of workers’ compensation law. I’m in the trenches,” he says. “I’m lucky to be at a firm with 13 offices across seven states. I can’t wait to meet all the other lawyers and grow at the firm. That’s why you get in the trenches.”