Ms Nelson, a Lurgan-based solicitor, died when a booby-trap bomb exploded under her car outside her home in March 1999.
The murder was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by the LVF. She had acted as legal representative for the Garvaghy Road residents in the Drumcree dispute. She said she had received death threats and had been assaulted by police. There were allegations that the delay in investigating the death threats may have proven fatal.
The Rosemary Nelson inquiry will be chaired by Sir Michael Morland, a retired member of the High Court of England and Wales. He served in the 1974 Gardiner commission on internment and also acted for the British Crown in 1973 in internment proceedings.
The other panel members are Sir Anthony Burden, former chief constable of South Wales Police, and Dame Valerie Strachan, vice chairwoman of the Big Lottery Fund.