BYU Law Professor Aaron Nielson Appointed Solicitor General of Texas

PROVO, Utah, Nov. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BYU Law today announced Professor Aaron Nielson has been appointed to serve as Solicitor General of Texas. In this position, he will supervise the appellate work for the State of Texas. Professor Nielson will take a one-year leave of absence from BYU Law School to serve as Solicitor General.  

"Aaron is a prolific scholar, talented teacher and accomplished practitioner. He embodies BYU Law's mission 'to be and develop people of integrity who combine faith and intellect in lifelong service to God and neighbor,'" said David Moore, dean, BYU Law. "I am grateful for Aaron's inclination to public service and look forward to what he will bring back to BYU Law and its incredible students on his return."

Professor Nielson lectures and writes in the areas of administrative law, civil procedure, antitrust and the federal courts. He recently served as Chair of the Administration and Management Committee of the Administrative Conference of the United States. He also recently served on the Council of the American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice and currently co-chairs its antitrust committee. He supervises BYU Law's Washington, D.C. program and was selected as BYU Law Alumni Professor of the Year in 2019.

"I'm grateful to BYU Law for its willingness to allow me to take a one-year leave to work with the world-class appellate lawyers in the Texas Solicitor General Division. BYU is a place that takes public service seriously," said Professor Nielson. "I'm also grateful to Attorney General Ken Paxton, the whole team in the Attorney General's Office and the State of Texas for placing their trust in me. As Solicitor General, I'll do my best to zealously represent 30 million Texans while providing state and federal judges and justices with my service as an officer of the court. It's a humbling, remarkable opportunity, and I'm excited to get to work."

In 2020, Professor Nielson was appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court to brief and argue Collins v. Yellen, a constitutional dispute about the Federal Housing Finance Agency. His publications have appeared in many of the nation's top journals, including the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal and the University of Chicago Law Review. 

Before joining the BYU faculty, Professor Nielson was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He also has served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit 

About BYU Law

Founded in 1971 with its inaugural class in 1973, the J. Reuben Clark Law School (BYU Law) has grown into one of the nation's leading law schools – recognized for innovative research and teaching in social change, transactional design, entrepreneurship, corpus linguistics, criminal justice and religious freedom. The Law School has more than 7,000 alumni serving in communities around the world. National Jurist recognized BYU Law as the #1 best-value law school in its 2021 and 2022 rankings. BYU Law also earned its highest U.S. news ranking to date, coming in at No. 22 in the U.S. News 2024 Best Law School rankings. For more information, visit https://law.byu.edu.

SOURCE BYU Law