Biography
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.
Courses
Nonprofit Associations 620/G
Advanced course in business law, focusing on the law of not-for-profit businesses. Cover doctrine; learn practice concepts relevant to working as lawyers for nonprofit organizations, and advising nonprofit business clients as outside counsel and inside advisers; become familiar with organization, private governance, and public relations of these entities. Expose students to statutes, case law, regulation and nonprofit entity organization documents. Topics include formation and entity choice; the activities nonprofits can and cannot undertake, including commercial, lobbying, and political activities; fiduciary duties and governance in these entities; forms of fundraising; the investment and use of these entities' funds; and related issues. Pre- or corequisite: Business Associations.
Business Associations 632/G
This course is a survey of the law of for-profit businesses. Students will cover doctrine through statutes and case law; learn practical concepts relevant to advising business clients; and become familiar with transactional documents relevant for advising clients who may be small to mid-sized closely held businesses or participants in them. Topics include the formation, operation, combination, and dissolution of unincorporated and incorporated business firms; as well as the relationships between owners, managers, and other participants in firms, and to a lesser extent their relationships with outsiders.
Mergers & Acquisitions 636
A study of corporate mergers and acquisitions. The course will examine corporate acquisition topics such as the rationale, the process, due diligence, the legal duties of the officers and directors involved, different ways to structure a corporate acquisition, issues in negotiation and contracting, securities law issues, and the role of the lawyers throughout. There will be an emphasis on practical skills and real life transactions. Pre-requisite: Business Association
Introduction to Corporate Compliance BLAW 377
Examines relationships between corporate governance, risk and compliance. Identification and discussion of common features of compliance programs and specific regulations affecting corporate compliance. Discussion of the role of risk assessment and ethical considerations.
Articles
Broad Shareholder Value and the Inevitable Role of Conscience, 12 NYU J.L. & Bus. 35 (2015)
The End of Shareholder Litigation? Allowing Shareholders to Customize Enforcement through Arbitration Provisions in Charters and Bylaws, 2013 BYU L. Rev. 65 (2013)
Protecting Speech from the Heart: How Citizens United Strikes Down Political Speech Restrictions on Churches and Charities, 16 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 155-174 (2011)
Other
Awards
James T. Caleshu Award, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area