Introduction: Who Is Reece Pelley?
Search for Reece Pelley, and one familiar name quickly appears: Scott Pelley, the longtime CBS News journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent. But Reece has developed a professional identity that is quite different from his father’s career in broadcast journalism.
Reece Pelley is a New York attorney whose background combines political science, international human rights work, judicial clerkships, and private legal practice. As of 2026, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan lists him as an associate in the firm’s New York office, which he joined in 2024. Before entering the firm, he clerked for judges in both state and federal courts.
His public biography is relatively focused. Unlike his famous father, Reece does not appear to maintain a celebrity-oriented public profile. Most reliable information about him comes from law firms, universities, legal publications, human-rights organizations, and a limited number of family references.
That distinction matters. Several biography websites attach unsupported ages, personal details, and assumptions to people connected with famous families. This profile takes a different approach: when a detail cannot be verified through a credible public source, it is left out.
Who Is Reece Pelley?
Reece Pelley is an attorney based professionally in New York and the son of CBS journalist Scott Pelley and Jane Boone. PEOPLE confirmed in a 2026 profile of 60 Minutes correspondents and their partners that Scott Pelley and Jane Boone have two children, son Reece and daughter Blair.
Professionally, Reece is listed by Quinn Emanuel as an associate in its New York office. His firm’s biography shows a career shaped by judicial experience and strong academic credentials rather than entertainment or media work.
His public record also includes earlier work connected with international human rights and foreign policy, making the simple label “Scott Pelley’s son” an incomplete description of who he is.
Reece Pelley Biography at a Glance
| Category | Verified public information |
|---|---|
| Name | Reece Pelley |
| Profession | Attorney |
| Current public role | Associate at Quinn Emanuel, New York |
| Father | Scott Pelley |
| Mother | Jane Boone |
| Sibling | Blair Pelley |
| Undergraduate education | Clemson University |
| Undergraduate degree | B.A. in Political Science, 2014 |
| Law school | Fordham University School of Law |
| Law degree | J.D., magna cum laude, 2019 |
| Bar admission | New York |
| Earlier focus | International human rights and foreign policy |
| Judicial experience | Clerkships in Connecticut and federal courts |
| Publicly documented wedding partner | Chelsea Weldon |
His education, current role, bar admission and judicial clerkships are documented by Quinn Emanuel. His immediate family connection to Scott Pelley, Jane Boone and Blair Pelley is independently supported by PEOPLE.
Reece Pelley Family Background
Family is one of the main reasons the name Reece Pelley attracts broader online interest.
Scott Pelley: Reece Pelley’s Father
Reece’s father, Scott Pelley, is one of the better-known figures in American broadcast journalism. He has worked for CBS News since 1989 and became a correspondent for 60 Minutes in 2004, according to PEOPLE’s 2026 profile.
Scott’s highly visible career naturally creates curiosity about his family, but Reece has not followed him directly into television journalism.
Instead, his professional path moved toward law, courts and public-policy issues.
That difference is noteworthy. Children of well-known media personalities are often described primarily through their parents, but Reece’s academic and legal record provides a substantial independent professional identity.
Jane Boone: Reece Pelley’s Mother
Reece’s mother is Jane Boone.
PEOPLE reported that Boone studied journalism at Southern Methodist University and later worked at a Dallas television station. She and Scott Pelley met through the television-news world and married in 1983. The publication identifies Reece and Blair as their two children.
Beyond these verified details, information about Boone’s private family life should be treated carefully. Her relationship with Scott is much better documented publicly than personal details about their children’s upbringing.
Blair Pelley: Reece Pelley’s Sibling
Reece also has a sister, Blair Pelley. PEOPLE explicitly identifies Blair as Scott Pelley and Jane Boone’s daughter and Reece as their son.
There is less authoritative public information about Blair than about Scott Pelley, and that is a useful boundary to respect. Being related to a public figure does not automatically make every aspect of a person’s life public.
Reece Pelley and Chelsea Weldon
A public Zola wedding website identifies Reece Pelley and Chelsea Weldon and gives a wedding date of June 4, 2022, in Sharon, Connecticut.
That is the clearest first-party-style public documentation connecting the two.
It is better to rely on this limited fact than expand it into unsupported claims about how they met, their present household, children, occupations, or other private matters. Those details are either not prominently documented or cannot be established confidently from the sources reviewed.
This is particularly important with biographical SEO content: a wedding page may verify a relationship event, but it does not justify inventing an entire personal-life narrative around it.
Reece Pelley’s Education and Academic Background
Reece Pelley built a notably strong academic record before entering legal practice.
Quinn Emanuel states that he earned a B.A. in Political Science from Clemson University in 2014, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He later received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2019, graduating magna cum laude. His law-school record also included the Dean’s List, Order of the Coif and participation in the Fordham Mulligan Moot Court competition.
Fordham’s own records add more context to this period.
In 2018, Reece was part of a Fordham team that won a regional championship in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, an important competition centered on international legal disputes.
He also participated in Fordham’s Walter Leitner International Human Rights Clinic. In 2018, Fordham reported that Reece and fellow clinic students prepared a report presented to representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The project examined how a gender-sensitive approach could be incorporated into the Global Compact for Refugees, including analysis of gender-based violence affecting Syrian refugee women and girls.
These experiences help explain why human rights became a visible theme in his early professional work.
Reece Pelley’s Human Rights and Public-Policy Work
Before the judicial clerkships that now stand out on his professional résumé, Reece Pelley was publicly associated with Human Rights First.
A Just Security contributor profile from 2020 identified him as the Tolan Foreign Policy Legal Fellow at Human Rights First. It also noted that, while attending Fordham Law, he served as a Crowley Scholar at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice and interned with the Open Society Justice Initiative and the ACLU.
His published work offers evidence of the subjects he was engaging with.
In 2018, Human Rights First published an article by Reece examining the future of democracy and rule-of-law questions in Poland.
In 2020, he co-authored pieces for Just Security addressing international human-rights concerns. Fordham Law specifically highlighted one article titled A Bipartisan Push in Congress to Fight the ‘Parallel Pandemic’ of Human Rights Abuses Abroad.
This period is important because it shows that Reece’s connection with human-rights law was more than a label appearing in a later biography. It involved clinical legal work, published analysis and fellowship experience.
Reece Pelley’s Judicial Clerkships
After law school and his human-rights work, judicial clerkships became a major part of Reece Pelley’s career.
According to Quinn Emanuel, he served as a law clerk for Maria Araújo Kahn at the Connecticut Supreme Court from 2020 to 2021. He then clerked for Judge John F. Keenan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York during 2021–2022. Later, he clerked again for Judge Kahn after her appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, during 2023–2024.
Fordham independently documented his Connecticut Supreme Court clerkship in its Judicial Center programming.
Judicial clerkships can be particularly valuable early in a legal career because they place attorneys inside the decision-making process of courts. Clerks typically work closely with judges on legal research, written analysis and questions involving precedent and procedure.
It would be speculative to claim exactly how these clerkships shaped Reece’s personal philosophy, but professionally they show sustained exposure to both state and federal appellate and trial-level judicial work.
Reece Pelley at Quinn Emanuel
The clearest answer to “What does Reece Pelley do now?” comes from his current firm biography.
As of 2026, Reece Pelley is an associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in New York, having joined the firm in 2024.
Quinn Emanuel is primarily known as a litigation-focused firm, so the move represents a transition from judicial chambers and public-interest-oriented work into private legal practice.
Justia also lists Reece as a New York attorney associated with Quinn Emanuel and confirms his Fordham J.D. and Clemson bachelor’s degree.
The important point is not to overstate what his firm biography says. Public sources clearly establish his position, education and clerkships, but they do not provide a detailed list of every case he has handled or every client he has represented.
Important Public Mentions and Notable Moments
Several documented milestones stand out in the available Reece Pelley biography:
- 2014: Graduated from Clemson University with a B.A. in Political Science.
- 2018: Participated in Fordham’s international human-rights clinic work presented to UNHCR representatives and competed on Fordham’s successful Jessup Moot Court team.
- 2019: Graduated magna cum laude from Fordham Law and received the James E. Tolan Fellowship in International Human Rights.
- 2020: Publicly identified as a Towan Foreign Policy Legal Fellow at Human Rights First and published human-rights commentary.
- 2020–2024: Completed multiple state and federal judicial clerkships.
- 2022: A public wedding website records his wedding with Chelsea Weldon.
- 2024: Joined Quinn Emanuel’s New York office.
Taken together, the timeline shows a career developing through education, public-interest work, courts and litigation rather than through his family’s media visibility.
Family and Relationship Table
| Person | Connection to Reece Pelley | What is publicly verified |
| Scott Pelley | Father | CBS journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent |
| Jane Boone | Mother | Former journalism professional; married Scott Pelley in 1983 |
| Blair Pelley | Sister | Daughter of Scott Pelley and Jane Boone |
| Chelsea Weldon | Publicly documented wedding partner | Zola records a June 4, 2022 wedding with Reece |
The parent and sibling relationships are confirmed in PEOPLE’s 2026 profile. The Chelsea Weldon connection is documented through their public wedding page.
The Personal Side of Reece Pelley’s Story
One of the most noticeable things about Reece Pelley’s public presence is how professionally focused it remains.
His father’s career has involved decades of national television exposure. Reece’s own searchable footprint, by contrast, centers on law-school achievements, human-rights articles, judicial clerkships and his law-firm biography.
That does not prove that he deliberately avoids publicity, and it would be unfair to assign motives without a direct statement from him. But it does mean there is relatively little reliable material about hobbies, private friendships, daily routines, children or other personal matters.
For readers searching for a Reece Pelley age or date of birth, another caution is necessary: the authoritative professional and family sources reviewed for this article do not provide a verified birth date. It is therefore better not to estimate his age from graduation dates or repeat unsupported numbers from biography aggregators.
Accuracy sometimes means leaving a blank space where the internet expects a fact.
Recent Public Visibility
As of 2026, Reece Pelley’s strongest current public visibility comes from his professional legal career.
Quinn Emanuel continues to list him as an associate in its New York office and details his education and clerkship history. Recent general-interest coverage of the Pelley family has also brought renewed attention to Reece because of Scott Pelley’s continuing role on 60 Minutes. A May 2026 PEOPLE feature again identified Reece and Blair as Scott Pelley and Jane Boone’s children.
There is no strong evidence that Reece is pursuing celebrity status of his own. His public identity remains primarily that of a lawyer with an international-human-rights and judicial background.
FAQs About Reece Pelley
Who is Reece Pelley?
Reece Pelley is a New York attorney and the son of CBS journalist Scott Pelley and Jane Boone. He joined Quinn Emanuel’s New York office in 2024 after completing several judicial clerkships.
What does Reece Pelley do for a living?
Reece Pelley works as an attorney. Quinn Emanuel currently lists him as an associate in its New York office.
Who are Reece Pelley’s parents?
His parents are Scott Pelley and Jane Boone. PEOPLE reports that the couple married in 1983 and have two children, Reece and Blair.
Does Reece Pelley have siblings?
Yes. His sister is Blair Pelley. Both are identified publicly as the children of Scott Pelley and Jane Boone.
Where did Reece Pelley go to college?
He earned a B.A. in Political Science from Clemson University in 2014 and a J.D. magna cum laude from Fordham University School of Law in 2019.
Is Reece Pelley a human rights lawyer?
Human rights formed an important part of his early legal work. Just Security identified him in 2020 as a Tolan Foreign Policy Legal Fellow at Human Rights First, and his Fordham years included international-human-rights clinical work. His current public role, however, is as an associate at Quinn Emanuel rather than a position specifically titled “human rights attorney.”
Who is Reece Pelley’s wife?
A public Zola wedding site identifies Chelsea Weldon and Reece Pelley and lists their wedding for June 4, 2022, in Sharon, Connecticut. Beyond that public record, reliable information about their private relationship is limited.
How old is Reece Pelley?
A verified date of birth was not found in the authoritative sources reviewed for this profile. Although his education timeline is public, using graduation dates to guess his age would not be reliable.
Final Thoughts
Reece Pelley may initially attract attention because of his connection to Scott Pelley, but the verified record tells a broader story.
He studied political science at Clemson, graduated with distinction from Fordham Law, worked on international-human-rights issues, wrote about foreign policy and democratic governance, and completed demanding clerkships in state and federal courts before joining Quinn Emanuel in New York.
His family connections are straightforward: Scott Pelley and Jane Boone are his parents, and Blair Pelley is his sister. A public wedding page also connects him with Chelsea Weldon.
What makes Reece Pelley interesting as a biographical subject is precisely that his professional record stands apart from his father’s television fame. The available evidence presents someone whose public identity has developed through law, human rights, judicial service and litigation, while much of his personal life remains outside the spotlight.
That is also the most accurate way to tell his story: emphasize what the evidence supports, provide context where it adds value, and resist filling private gaps with speculation.
