Melissa Gomez Nelson

Melissa Gomez Nelson is a Partner in Dentons' Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice, and a member of the firm's White Collar and Government Investigations practice and Blockchain, Digital Assets & Cryptocurrency teams, resident in the Washington, DC office. Her practice focuses on White Collar Crime.

Melissa's practice includes advising on the rapidly evolving legal landscape surrounding prediction markets and sports gambling. She also presents and publishes on regulatory developments, compliance considerations and market entry strategies in these industries.

A seasoned corporate litigator and investigations attorney with extensive in-house experience, she advises and defends clients across multiple market sectors in civil and criminal matters before federal and state courts in the District of Columbia, Texas and Virginia. She leverages her experience as Head of Litigation for a publicly traded company when advising clients on strategic and business-friendly solutions.

A fluent Spanish speaker, Melissa has led numerous investigations requiring Spanish-language interviews and has represented foreign clients facing corporate and individual liability.

Her experience includes representing a US public company in an FCPA investigation involving countries in the Middle East, including advising on collateral risks and consequences, managing a multi-country document collection and review, and updating directors on a continuing basis; representing Fresenius Medical Care in an FCPA investigation led by the SEC and DOJ, including managing a 35-lawyer team in the 25-country investigation; defending an executive in a criminal IEEPA matter in the US District Court for the District of Columbia; and representing corporate employees in criminal investigations into alleged Clean Water Act and MARPOL violations.

Melissa embraces Dentons' deep commitment to pro bono work and has represented clients in death penalty and asylum matters, and in connection with DC's Legal Counsel for the Elderly. She graduated cum laude from Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, where she served as a judicial intern to Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and holds a BA from St. Mary's University.

She was named to DCA Live's 2020 "Emerging Women Leaders in Private Practice," profiled in Washington Lawyer's feature story on "Lawyers Abroad: Working, Living & Thriving," and received the Benjamin R. Civiletti Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award in 2012. She is a Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Board Chair of Friend of Lombardi, and has served as Secretary and Board Member of the Hispanic National Bar Foundation and Co-chair of the ABA's White Collar Crime Diversity Committee.