Dorothy was one of two women to graduate in 1953 from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. In 1969 Dorothy was the first woman dean of a major American law school, the University of Southern California Law School. It was Judge Nelson that first introduced the concept of mediation in the CA court system. This was unheard of back in the day, and it wasn't easy to make it happen. In 1987 she was instrumental in founding the href="http://www.westernjustice.org/history/" target="_blank"Western Justice Center to develop creative programs to teach students, teachers and members of the community ways to resolve conflict peacefully. She is still active in this organization to this day.