Nelson L. Drake

Nelson’s practice includes representing people who suffered emotional and physical harms allegedly caused by social media platforms such as Meta Platforms, Instagram, Snap and TikTok that are accused of encouraging addictive behavior to maximize screen time. Nelson also works on litigation involving prediction markets concerning their regulatory compliance, market practices, and evolving legal frameworks. In a rapidly changing legal landscape, he works on new case development related to digital privacy, deepfakes, cryptocurrencies, broadband and other emerging technologies.

Prior to his tech and media work, Nelson worked on the firm’s team representing dozens of states, counties, cities, towns, and townships in litigation targeting the alleged deceptive marketing and over-distribution of highly addictive opioid drugs, a contended cause of the nationwide opioid crisis. He also represented a government entity in litigation against e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL, alleging unfair and deceptive marketing and sales practices. Additionally, Nelson worked on multiple drug pricing investigations on behalf of public clients. 

Before joining Motley Rice, Nelson worked as a summer associate at a business law firm in Savannah, Ga., where he assisted with civil litigation relating to real property disputes. He analyzed developments in the scope of non-competition clauses and the applicability of federal trade secret regulations in employment contracts. He also was a trademark protection manager for the National Grange of the Order of the Patrons on Husbandry in Washington, D.C., where he drafted license agreements, performed trademark infringement analysis, and conducted quality control operations to manage trademark infringement violations.