A Path Shaped by Advocacy

_{Farnan School of Law student Jonathan Taylor (left) with his longtime mentor, attorney Mike Nestor}

Years after an attorney advocated for him as a child, Jonathan Taylor is preparing to become an attorney himself. 

Jonathan Taylor was 8 years old when he met Mike Nestor, an attorney appointed to represent him when he was thrust into Delaware’s foster care system. He couldn’t have known then how deeply the relationship would affect his life, or that the attorney advocating for him and his four siblings would become one of the most enduring influences in it.

Children often enter foster care at one of the most uncertain times in their lives. They may be separated from the people, places and routines they know, while adults they’ve never met begin making decisions about what happens next. In the middle of all that uncertainty, having someone who listens without judgment can make a difference.

Nestor was that person. He wasn’t just an attorney assigned to Taylor’s case. He was someone who showed up, listened and made an 8-year-old feel like what he had to say mattered. At a time when so much of Taylor’s life was beyond his control, Nestor gave him a voice.

Years later, Taylor is beginning to understand how much that relationship shaped him. Today, he’s a first-year student at Wilmington University’s Farnan School of Law, preparing to enter the same profession that first touched his life as a child. His decision to pursue law wasn’t the result of one defining moment, but rather years of experience, education, work and plenty of ups and downs — along with the example Nestor continued to set.

But there was an early sign of where that influence might lead. “You have a thing called ‘The Life Book’ in Delaware when you’re in the foster system,” Taylor says. “In this book, you’re supposed to write things down and I wrote that I wanted to be like Mike.”

The dream was there. Believing he could reach it was another matter.

“There was a time I stopped believing in myself,” Taylor says. “I thought I wasn’t smart enough or good enough and that ruled my teenage years. I struggled in college. I started developing anxiety and dealt with an adoptive family that battled mental health issues. Mike stayed in my life and, despite all that, I sat down with him and told him I still wanted to go to law school. So, he created a game plan, and told me that WilmU was starting a law school, and if I got accepted, I’d have to put the work in.”

Nestor, who is vice chair of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP, a prominent Delaware-based law firm with a national reputation, particularly in corporate restructuring and bankruptcy law, has spent more than three decades practicing law. He’s represented companies in financial distress and served as lead counsel in complex restructuring matters.

He’s also spent much of his career serving as a guardian ad litem, a court-appointed attorney who advocates for children in the Family Court system. It’s work that has allowed him to be a voice for children during some of the most difficult periods of their lives. Taylor puts Nestor’s impact more simply: “Mike and his team saved us.”

“There are a lot of kids who get caught in that cycle and can’t find a way out, so part of our responsibility is to give them an opportunity and do the job we’ve been entrusted to do as guardians ad litem,” Nestor says. “But Jon also had the strength and wherewithal to distance himself from his circumstances and break that cycle.”

In His Corner

What began as an attorney-client relationship grew into a mentorship, and Taylor increasingly turned to Nestor as life became more complicated, confiding in him about school, work and questions about his future. Taylor also saw firsthand the kind of attorney Nestor was — someone who built a prominent corporate practice while giving his time to support children and the community.

“I feel blessed beyond measure,” Taylor says. “Having lived so much of my life without people in my corner, it’s pretty incredible when you finally have them. Mike has been one of the most consistent people in my life. He would even check in with my adoptive parents, which I didn’t know at the time. The truth is, if it weren’t for Mike and his team, who knows what my life would have been like.”

“Jon is an inspiration to me,” Nestor says. “Every time I tell his story, people are amazed by what he’s overcome. And there’s still so much ahead of him.”

Taylor continued to face hard times, including life with an adoptive family struggling with mental illness. “Mike believed in me then, and he still does — probably more than I believe in myself,” Taylor says.

It’s not lost on him how accomplished Nestor is — or how rarely Nestor draws attention to himself. As Taylor sees it, “There’s no ego. He’s one of the humblest people I’ve ever met. All my fellow students feel the exact same way about him.”

There are three lessons Nestor has impressed upon Taylor over the years: respect people’s time; success doesn’t come by elevator — you have to take the stairs, one step at a time; and, finally, be kind. “He taught me that you never really know what people are going through, so just try to be a good human being,” says Taylor.

“Jon is absolutely a good human being,” Nestor says. “He has held onto his faith and remained a source of strength for his siblings through some really difficult circumstances.”

For years, Taylor struggled to see much of a future for himself. “I didn’t think I’d amount to anything,” he says. “My aspirations didn’t exist. I thought I had to settle. Now I know I don’t have to. Now I’m in this position, and to be honest, I still feel so undeserving of it.”

Getting into law school didn’t make those feelings disappear. “I still feel the effect of what it was like to be a kid in those environments, but I’m fighting the good fight,” says Taylor. “I know that’s because people who love me are still fighting for me.”

Taking the Stairs

In 2021, when Taylor was 16, Young Conaway provided Jon with a job as a records clerk. He organized confidential legal files, digitized records and handled firm documents, gaining an early look at the work behind a law practice. There was something full circle about it: years after Nestor had represented him as a child, Taylor was now working at the same firm where his mentor had built his career.

At Young Conaway, Taylor began to see the law from the other side. As a child, he knew the legal system as someone who needed an advocate. Now he was seeing the work behind that advocacy — and the responsibility it demanded.

Life soon pushed him into a different chapter. Two years later, at 19, Taylor was forced to leave his adoptive home and support himself. He worked as an assistant to the executive director of a political organization before joining Dole Fresh Fruit Company as a senior maintenance and repair coordinator.

His path to law school took shape over time. He earned an associate degree in General Studies from Delaware Technical Community College in 2025, then continued at Wilmington University in the B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies program. By September of that year, education costs had him considering the military to help pay for school.

Then Nestor made an introduction that changed his life, connecting Taylor with Wilmington University Board of Trustees Chairman Joseph J. Farnan Jr., President Dr. LaVerne Harmon and Farnan School of Law Dean Jan Jurden.

“Here were these incredible people who all had tremendously busy lives,” says Taylor. “They took the time to share stories about their backgrounds and successes and were completely open about their failures. Dr. Harmon said that no one in that group would be where they were without second chances. She said no one is defined by their mistakes. She somehow knew about what I sacrificed and how I cared for my siblings. Then, she said, ‘Look at what you’ve already accomplished through everything you’ve faced. Imagine what you can accomplish with even more support.’”

For Taylor, the meeting helped make a future at Wilmington University and its law school seem possible. “I felt then, and still feel now, like I’d found a family at WilmU,” he says.

Later that year, another opportunity followed: a part-time job at WilmU as an accounts payable analyst, where he now assists with procurement and contracts. Like many WilmU students, he balances work with a full-time course load.

“My manager, Patty Greene, has been such a blessing, day in and day out,” Taylor says. Greene, general accounting manager in Financial Affairs, has watched Taylor continue to push forward despite the challenges he’s faced.

“Jonathan’s journey is a reflection of resilience and strength,” Greene says. “He continues to demonstrate a commitment to moving forward, even when the path is not easy.”

Taken together, Taylor’s jobs may have looked different, but each asked more of him — judgment, discretion, communication and accountability — while exposing him to workplaces and responsibilities he might never have encountered otherwise. He was building a career, continuing his education and, piece by piece, moving closer to the profession he had imagined as a child.

Through every change, Nestor remained a constant presence, though for Nestor, that was part of the commitment he had made years earlier. “I don’t think the human responsibility stops when the legal responsibilities end,” he says.

That commitment extended into a place that would become important to Taylor as well. In addition to his legal career at Young Conaway, Nestor serves on the Farnan School of Law’s Board of Advisors and as co-chair and interim director of the Wilmington University Restructuring Institute, a national resource for education and training in corporate restructuring.

By the time Taylor began moving toward the Farnan School of Law himself, his understanding of the profession was already deeply personal. He knew what it was like to need an advocate, understood the inner workings of a law firm and had built a life through experiences beyond the legal world. He would bring all of it with him to law school.

Becoming the Advocate

Taylor entered the Farnan School of Law through Wilmington University’s 3+3 Accelerated Law School Pathway, which allows eligible students to apply credits from their first year of law school toward completion of their bachelor’s degree and complete both degrees in six years.

With guidance from the School of Law’s Admissions team, Taylor was able to navigate the pathway and see how law school could fit into his plans. Once he arrived, he found that same sense of support in Dean Jan Jurden, whose encouragement made an early impression.

“At orientation, Dean Jurden stayed outside as students were leaving and answered questions until there were none left,” says Taylor. “It was August, the hottest month of the year, and she stayed there and relieved our fears. She made everyone feel we could do it. She lifted us up. She said we were not alone and made it clear that we would always have access to her — and we have.”

She greets everyone with kindness, Taylor adds. “You never feel like she doesn’t have time for you.”

Dean Jurden finds Taylor’s words humbling. “What strikes me about Jonathan is that everything he’s been through could’ve hardened him, but it hasn’t. He’s kind, personable and someone people are naturally drawn to.”

One of the most inspiring parts of the Dean’s work, she says, is watching all Farnan School of Law students, in their own way, begin to see possibilities for themselves that they may not have imagined before. “When I think about Jonathan and all that lies ahead for him, it fills my heart.”

His experiences have taken him through the foster care system, a law firm, politics, corporate operations and financial administration, giving him insight into people, institutions and responsibilities that don’t fit neatly into one category.

“And that’s what makes Jonathan such a promising future lawyer,” Dean Jurden says. “That hard-earned perspective will serve him well in the classroom and, eventually, as an attorney. He understands that there are real people behind every case.”

Much of that understanding traces back to Nestor, whose influence on Taylor extended beyond the courtroom. In addition to his restructuring practice, Nestor has worked to strengthen the legal profession and expand opportunities within it, including through the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. His community involvement has included service on the boards of Action for Delaware’s Children and Wine to Water, and in 2025, the Delaware State Bar Association honored him with its Community Service Award. That same year, Nestor was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, recognizing his expertise, leadership, professionalism and service in the field.

Mentorship seems personal for Nestor. He participates in the Farnan School of Law’s Mentor Program, which pairs first-year students with members of the legal community to help them build relationships, understand the profession and learn from those already practicing it.

“When I was in college, I didn’t know anything about law school or a legal career,” he says. “I didn’t have friends or family members who were lawyers. I see myself in a lot of kids who don’t know anything about the profession or how any of it works. If something I’ve learned can help someone else be better prepared, that matters.”

Nestor thinks that mentoring can be as simple as giving someone your time, answering a question or making an introduction. “Everyone has their own lives, challenges and jobs, but there are still ways to help,” he says. “If we can make the profession and our communities a little better along the way, that’s a good thing.”

The Life He’s Building

Taylor’s résumé now includes a line that reads “Juris Doctor candidate, with graduation expected in 2029.” They’re meaningful words and a powerful aspiration, but they capture only a fraction of the story. They say little about the work and persistence that will get him there.

To understand what that line really means, you have to go back to the day an 8-year-old Taylor first met Mike Nestor.

Neither could have known where that meeting would lead. What stayed with Taylor wasn’t simply that Nestor represented him. It was that, during a time when so much of his life was beyond his control, someone listened, took him seriously and stood up for him.

That experience has shaped both who Taylor is and the lawyer he wants to become. He will enter the profession knowing that the law isn’t abstract when you’re the person whose future is being decided. It’s personal, consequential and, at times, frightening. And sometimes, what one attorney does for a person can stay with them for the rest of their life.

“My whole drive is to be like Mike,” Taylor says. “I may not know what type of law I want to practice, but I do know what I want to do with it. I want to help people with limited resources. My biological mother was a ward of the state — I was born to someone who grew up in the same foster care system. But for me, that cycle was broken, thanks to Mike and his team.”

“Jon gives me credit for the impact I’ve had on his life, but the truth is, he deserves the credit,” Nestor says. “I may have been fortunate enough to walk beside him for part of the journey, but he’s the one who overcame the obstacles, made the hard choices, and became the remarkable young man he is today. Watching the 8-year-old boy I first met grow into a law student has been a privilege. If I played even a small part in helping him see what was possible, I’m incredibly grateful for that.”

Taylor plans to foster and adopt children of his own one day. “Like Mike, I hope to have the means to provide for my family but also give my time and resources to people in need. Those are the people I want to represent.”

Now Taylor is preparing to become an advocate himself. “It all gave me a unique perspective,” he says. “I’m grateful, even for the bad times. I lived a lot of my life without much. And now, look at everything I have! I have a precious life. What an honor it is to be in the position I’m in now, and there are no words to express how Wilmington University has blessed me. How can I not give back?”    

 — Maria Hess