A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Mr. Nelson graduated from Bishop England High School in 1995 and received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the College of Charleston in 2000. While attending the University of South Carolina School of Law, Tom Nelson worked as a law clerk in the Office of the Attorney General where he assisted in public and press relations and later worked in the Elder Care Division where he organized a seminar educating over 200 attorneys, social workers, and law enforcement officials on elder abuse law in South Carolina. In his second year of law school, Mr. Nelson co-founded an independent law clerk service that performed legal work for various lawyers and firms.