Daniel Nelson is the new Chief Deputy Prosecutor of the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.

“Dan Nelson has had a distinguished career, marked by many high profile cases as both a federal prosecutor and a private litigator,” Baker said. “Dan has demonstrated a fair-minded approach to prosecution and is a welcome addition to this office.”

Nelson, most recently, served for 12 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for Western Missouri where he tried cases to juries and represented the United States in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served in a variety of roles including Securities Fraud Coordinator, Elections Officer and Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney.

At trial, Nelson has convicted businessmen and women, bank robbers, a mayor, and tax criminals. He was recognized by a panel of state and federal judges and the Missouri Bar Foundation with the 2014 Lon Hocker Award for trial excellence.

Nelson earlier worked as a business litigation associate in the Washington D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis. He instructs on trial advocacy, ethics, securities law, and cyber law. He has guest-lectured at Mizzou and KU, he co-teaches Federal Trial Practice at UMKC Law School, and he is a Special Master for KCMBA’s Trial Academy.

Dan is board president of The Child Protection Center, an accredited child advocacy center serving Jackson and Cass counties. He is past president of Impact KC, a giving circle that since 2004 has awarded nearly $1 million to Kansas City charities. A proud sixth-generation Missourian, Dan is a graduate of the MU School of Journalism and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Nelson fills the vacancy created earlier this year when W. Page Bellamy left the chief deputy position to become an Associate Circuit Judge in Saline County.