Growing up, Rya Nelson never thought of becoming an attorney.
“I actually wanted to work in the arts as a photographer and a videographer,” said Nelson, an East Bay native who grew up in Clayton. “I would watch lawyer movies and think, ‘that’s not interesting to me at all.’”
But when a professor at the University of Arizona approached Rya to join the debate team after a spirited in-class discussion, she discovered she had a flair for public speaking.
Nelson has always had deep empathy for the disadvantaged and underserved. The granddaughter of a disabled immigrant, she began to realize that a career in law was an opportunity to fuse her aptitude for speaking with her values.
“Something clicked for me during a personal injury slip-and-fall trial… the advocacy the lawyers had for their clients.”
Rya Nelson
Ten years later, Nelson is fighting for justice for injury victims, sexual assault survivors, wrongly terminated employees, and individuals whose civil rights have been violated. She is the newest associate attorney at Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer, a Downtown Oakland law firm. She joined the firm, which specializes in personal injury, employment and civil rights, in October, after over three years at another civil litigation firm in Oakland.
At her former firm, being one of just three attorneys provided Nelson the opportunity to hone her litigation skills. “I just completed my 59th deposition,” she said. “I’ve taken two trials to jury verdict. I have a decent amount of experience for someone in my position.”
Discovering personal injury law
Plaintiffs’ side civil litigation wasn’t initially on Nelson’s radar. During college, she interned at the International Rescue Committee, helping refugees and asylees obtain their green cards and citizenship, a topic close to her heart. But she found federal immigration law was less than favorable to that work.
“Immigration courts are governed by the executive branch of the federal government, so the laws are based on who is in office at the time,” Nelson said. “As much as that field of law was important to me, I felt like my hands were tied in what I could do at that time. So when I went to law school, I decided to remain open to other types of law.”
Nelson’s enthusiasm for personal injury law materialized while she was a law student at the University of San Francisco School of Law. She served as a summer extern with San Francisco Superior Court Judge Mary. E Wiss.
“I saw an asbestos trial, I saw a DUI trial, I saw probate juvenile hearings, you name it,” Nelson said. “Something clicked for me during a personal injury slip-and-fall trial. I had never in my life thought that area of law was interesting, but the advocacy the lawyers had for their clients and the impact of the settlement for the plaintiff made me think, ‘I want to do that.’”
Since receiving her law degree in 2023, Nelson has proudly and solely represented plaintiffs. When Gwilliam put out the call for a new associate attorney last fall, Nelson pounced on the opportunity to expand her skill set at a bigger firm while continuing to fight for plaintiffs.
Depth of experience at Gwilliam
“The partners here have so much experience,” she said. “Gary Gwilliam has completed over 180 jury trials. That’s basically unheard of. So, the wealth of knowledge and experience here was really attractive to me.”
“And they’re not afraid of taking on big cases,” she added. As an example, she pointed to working on a lawsuit involving 10 former insurance agents of AAA of Northern California, Nevada & Utah who say they were terminated because of their age and race. The firm is representing them in a discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit.
“AAA leadership used arbitrary and pretextual reasons for terminating all these former insurance agents who had not had any real prior discipline,” Nelson said. “All the insurance agents were making commissions on their renewals for the policies they serviced, but AAA wanted them out because they were making too much money and were staunch advocates for unionization. The cases are just shocking. That’s this big behemoth that Gary and I are working on. He just doesn’t quit.”
In addition to Gary Gwilliam, partner attorney Winston Moody has served as an important mentor during Nelson’s first six months at the firm.
“I am currently working with Winston on a couple of personal injury cases involving catastrophic injuries. He’s taught me a different, but valued, perspective on how to practice law,” she said.
“He’s also so approachable. That’s another thing I really like about this firm — the partners have a broad range of legal knowledge and I have already learned so much from them.”
Outside of work, Nelson, a San Francisco resident who commutes to the office via BART, is a devout practitioner of hot yoga. “You’re sweating before you even start the movements,” she said. “But something about the heat makes you more flexible. It’s so hot that you really have to focus on your breath in order to breathe normally. It’s very meditative.”
But during the weekdays, she can be found east of Lake Merritt at the Gwilliam Ivary et al. office, where the work is as invigorating as her hobby, and supportive as well.
“Everyone’s so nice,” she said. “They’re just really kind, caring and genuine people. They like to fight the good fight.”
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