Camille A. Nelson

Camille A. Nelson is a Canadian-Jamaican academic who served as the 12th Dean of Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. Born in Jamaica, Nelson graduated with her Bachelors from the University of Toronto, her law degree from the University of Ottawa and a LLM from Columbia University. Camille Nelson was the first black woman to clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, and is the first woman and first person of color to become Dean at Suffolk University Law School; she became Dean in 2010.
A widely published scholar and sought-after speaker, Nelson is an expert on the intersection of critical race theory and cultural studies with particular emphasis on criminal law and procedure, health law, and comparative law. She served as dean of Suffolk University Law School from 2010 to 2015.
On March 14, 2016, the American University Washington College of Law appointed Nelson as the school’s next dean. Her appointment begins July 25, 2016.