What Nelson & Kennard does

Nelson & Kennard, LLP is a privately-held civil litigation law firm founded in 1986 in McClellan, California, that provides debt collection and creditor representation legal services to consumer and commercial credit grantors. The firm's core services include collection of automobile deficiency balances, credit card debt (both direct placement and purchased portfolios), consumer lines, commercial debt, and mortgage debt, alongside replevin actions, creditor representation in bankruptcy proceedings, and civil litigation defense. Attorney licensure spans nine U.S. states — California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma — with physical offices in California (headquarters), Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Hawaii.

The firm's service delivery model is sales-led B2B legal services, targeting financial institutions, automobile finance companies, credit card issuers, consumer lenders, commercial lenders, and mortgage servicers. Revenue derives from professional services fees charged to creditor clients under negotiated engagements. The technology stack is limited to standard legal practice and case management systems, supplemented by an online consumer payment portal (Stratus Payments) that allows debtors to remit payments digitally. The firm has grown through tuck-in mergers, acquiring The Law Offices of David A. Bauer, P.C. in 2016 and The Law Offices of Marvin Dang in 2020, both of which extended capabilities and geographic coverage.

Nelson & Kennard operates as a founder-owned limited liability partnership with no institutional investors, private equity involvement, or parent company. Donald G. Nelson and Robert Scott Kennard remain associated with the firm since founding. The firm identifies itself publicly as a debt collector subject to FDCPA-style disclosures ("THIS FIRM IS A DEBT COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT A DEBT"), reflecting the regulatory nature of its core work. No AI, machine learning, or proprietary technology assets are disclosed, and pricing models are not publicly available, consistent with negotiated enterprise-style legal services arrangements.

Name

Nelson & Kennard

Legal name

Nelson & Kennard, LLP

Website

https://nelson-kennard.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Nelson & Kennard, LLP is a privately-held civil litigation law firm founded in 1986 that provides debt collection and creditor representation legal services to consumer and commercial credit grantors across nine U.S. states, with services spanning automobile deficiency, credit card, consumer, commercial, and mortgage debt.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Mcclellan

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Services for Debt Collection: Provides debt collection legal services to consumer and commercial credit grantors. Services include collection of deficiency balances, replevin, creditor representation in bankruptcy, and defense work. Revenue derived from legal fees charged to creditor clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Nelson & Kennard, LLP is a civil litigation law firm that provides debt collection legal services to consumer and commercial credit grantors. It handles collection of automobile deficiency balances, credit cards, consumer lines, commercial and mortgage debt, replevin, creditor representation in bankruptcy, and defense work across nine U.S. states.

Product overview

Nelson & Kennard, LLP is a civil litigation law firm offering a unified portfolio of legal services centered on debt collection and creditor representation. The core offering consists of an online payment portal integrated with Stratus Payments, supported by debt collection services (automobile deficiency balances, credit cards, consumer/commercial debt, mortgages), replevin services, bankruptcy creditor representation, and civil litigation defense. The firm operates as a single integrated legal practice serving creditor clients across California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, Hawaii, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Debt Collection Services Full-service debt collection including automobile deficiency balances, credit card collections (direct placement and purchased debt), consumer lines, commercial debt, and mortgage collections, for consumer and commercial credit grantors.
• Replevin Services Legal recovery services for personal property, commonly used in automobile finance deficiency balance recovery.
• Bankruptcy Representation Creditor representation services in bankruptcy proceedings.
• Civil Litigation Defense Defense work services for clients in the consumer and commercial credit industry.
• Online Payment Portal A web-based payment portal (linked to Stratus Payments) allowing consumers to make online payments for debts owed to creditors represented by the firm.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• The Law Offices of Marvin DangminorOthers · 1 January 2020Merged with The Law Offices of Marvin Dang in 2020, bringing additional legal expertise and potentially expanding presence in the Hawaii market.
• The Law Offices of David A. Bauer, P.C.minorOthers · 1 January 2016Merged with The Law Offices of David A. Bauer, P.C. in 2016, expanding the firm's capabilities and geographic reach in debt collection legal services.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Blitt & Gaines, P.C. An Illinois-based creditor-side collections law firm serving consumer and commercial credit grantors. Directly comparable in legal collection services and creditor representation.
• Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., LPA: A Ohio-based creditors' rights law firm providing collection, bankruptcy, and litigation services to banks, credit unions, and debt buyers. Closely comparable business model and client base to Nelson & Kennard.
• Zwicker & Associates, P.C. A national creditor-side debt collection law firm representing banks, credit card issuers, and auto finance companies. Directly comparable to Nelson & Kennard in services (consumer debt collection, bankruptcy representation) but operates at significantly larger scale across more states.
• Resnick & Louis, P.C. A creditors' rights law firm with multiple offices serving lenders and creditors across multiple states. Directly comparable in vertical focus and multi-state creditor representation model.
• Pressler & Pressler, LLP: A New Jersey-based debt collection law firm serving credit grantors with a similar mix of consumer debt collection, creditor bankruptcy representation, and litigation defense. Directly comparable in client type (credit grantors) and service offerings.

Broad incumbents

• Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP: A national law firm with a consumer financial services and creditor rights practice group. Overlaps with Nelson & Kennard in creditor-side collections and consumer financial services litigation, but operates as a full-service law firm across many practice areas.
• Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin: A large regional defense firm with a creditor rights practice group. Comparable in creditor-side litigation services but as a much larger full-service firm operating across multiple states.

Emerging players

• Encore Capital Group: A publicly traded debt buyer that purchases and collects defaulted consumer receivables through its subsidiaries (including Midland Funding). Comparable as a downstream purchaser that often engages creditor-rights law firms like Nelson & Kennard for legal recovery.
• Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA Group): A publicly traded debt buyer that purchases and collects charged-off consumer receivables. Adjacent comparator because debt buyers are both clients and competitors of creditor-rights law firms like Nelson & Kennard, sometimes collecting in-house rather than outsourcing to law firms.

Regional players

• IC System: A Minnesota-based third-party collection agency providing consumer debt recovery services for creditors. Adjacent comparator offering outsourced collection that competes for some of the same creditor clients as Nelson & Kennard but primarily through non-attorney collection work.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Nelson & Kennard