C. Steven Bradford Henry M. Grether, Jr. Professor of Law Emeritus
Professor Bradford joined the faculty in 1987. He received his B.S. degree (summa cum laude) from Utah State University in 1978; an M.P.P. from Harvard University in 1982; and a J.D. (magna cum laude) from Harvard Law School in 1982. From 1982 to 1986, he worked for the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist in Dallas, Texas and, during the 1986-87 academic year, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University.
Professor Bradford teaches Business Associations; Securities Regulation; and Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions.
Brian D. Lepard Harold W. Conroy Distinguished Professor of Law
Professor Lepard is a leading expert in the fields of international law, human rights law, comparative law, and tax law. He joined the faculty in 1995. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1983. At Princeton, he was named a Scholar of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and concentrated on the study of international law and organization, receiving a prize from the Woodrow Wilson School for his thesis on the development of the idea of the League of Nations in France during the First World War. Following his graduation from Princeton, he worked for three years as an international human rights law specialist at the United Nations Office of the Baha'i International Community, a non-governmental organization. In 1989, he received his J.D. degree from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. From 1989 until 1995 he practiced tax law as an associate with the Philadelphia-based law firm of Dechert Price & Rhoads, with a special focus on international tax law as well as exempt organizations law.
Professor Lepard has multidisciplinary scholarly and teaching interests in the fields of international human rights law; humanitarian intervention; international legal theory; comparative law, including comparative religious law; ethics; and tax and business law, including international tax law. He is the author of eight books and numerous articles relating to these diverse subject areas. Professor Lepard has spoken on the subjects of international law, human rights, and comparative law at conferences and other gatherings around the world, including in Albania, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, French Polynesia, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Professor Lepard holds the Harold W. Conroy Distinguished Professor of Law chair at the College of Law. He is the faculty adviser for the Law College’s program of concentrated study on international human rights law. He is a member of the editorial review boards of a number of academic journals, including The Journal of Human Rights, Religion and Human Rights: An International Journal, and The Journal of Baha'i Studies. He currently serves as chair of the Committee on the Formation of Customary International Law of the American Branch of the International Law Association and has served as chair of the International Legal Theory Interest Group of the American Society of International Law. He is a member of the International Board of Consultants of the Global Ethics and Religion Forum and of the Board of Advisors of Genocide Watch. He has also served as faculty adviser to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bahá'í Association.
During the 2019-2020 academic year, Professor Lepard is teaching International Human Rights Law Seminar, Comparative Law: World Legal Systems and Their Relevance to U.S. Law and Practice, International Perspectives in the U.S. Legal System: Practicing Law in a Global Legal Environment, and Business Planning.
Professor Lepard is admitted to practice in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and before the U.S. Tax Court. He is fluent in French and proficient in Portuguese.
Brett C. Stohs Clinical Associate Professor of Law & Cline Williams Director of the Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic
Professor Stohs joined the faculty in March 2012 to establish and direct a new in-house legal clinic that provides legal assistance to entrepreneurs and startup businesses. Since the Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic opened in 2013, Professor Stohs has been pursuing research interests in the application of mind mapping software to clinical legal education. His particular interests relate to using mind mapping techniques to optimize client assignments to student participants in a live-client clinic.
Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Stohs worked in private practice for over six years, focusing primarily on mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate and transactional matters for domestic and foreign clients in a variety of industries. From 2005 to 2011, Stohs practiced with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP in Washington, DC, and in 2011 he joined Rembolt Ludtke LLP in Lincoln. While at Sutherland, Stohs served as a work assignment coordinator for the firm's summer associate program, and as the pro bono coordinator for the firm's partnership with the Advocacy & Justice Clinic operated by the D.C. Bar.
Professor Stohs received his J.D., cum laude, from Duke University School of Law, where he served as Executive Editor for the Duke Law & Technology Review. Stohs also received a Master of Public Policy from the Sanford Institute of Public Policy, and a B.A. in mathematics and political science, with honors, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the Clinical Section of the Association of American Law Schools.
Paul Weitzel Assistant Professor of Law
Professor Paul Weitzel joined the UNL faculty in 2022. Prior to that he worked in Silicon Valley and the Middle East conducting international transactions on six continents. His most notable deal was the initial public offering of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, the largest initial public offering to date. Professor Weitzel’s experience covers mergers and acquisitions, international and domestic capital markets, venture capital and infrastructure.
Professor Weitzel’s scholarly research aims to humanize the corporate experience. His work explores the legal and governance constraints that drive antisocial corporate behavior, with the goal of revising the underlying theories of corporate purpose and corporate personality to empower executives.