Meet Brett Stohs, Clinical Professor of Law and Director @ UNL Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic.

The Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic is available through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law and offers free legal advising to entrepreneurs throughout Nebraska. It gives law students real-world work experience and is a part of a wider network of free legal resources in the state. 

Stohs is a member of the UNL College of Law, oversees programs offered at the school and has earned the title of Cline Williams Director of the Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic. He said the clinic will be accepting applications for new clients starting Oct. 15. 

What inspired you to become an entrepreneur or support other entrepreneurs?

I am an educator, and one of my primary goals is to educate law students (“baby lawyers”) about how to work with clients in a professional setting. By addressing early legal needs for an entrepreneurial client, that client also addresses early professional needs of our students, namely gaining experience as lawyers.

I deeply value the passion, creativity and clarity of focus that entrepreneurs bring to their work. Their high expectations make for challenging and real opportunities for students to learn and grow as a lawyer. I deeply appreciate the opportunity to serve entrepreneurs in a way that provides these growth opportunities to students.   

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time to when you were just starting out?

Embrace the chaos. Many of the best learning moments for students have been those where our client’s situation is not going according to plan, or the client abruptly changes plans. 

Entrepreneurs swim in choppy waters and students should be encouraged to swim right alongside rather than be shielded. In fact, one of the best attributes of good lawyering is providing calm and reasoned counsel when clients face challenge or uncertainty. 

Now, when chaos strikes, I typically react to my students with a grin rather than with anxiety. 

How do you stay motivated when things feel overwhelming — or stagnant?

I try to step away from the noise, even if briefly, so my mind has an opportunity to approach the situation with a fresh perspective. I’ve particularly found that mindfulness practices like meditation can help me recenter when I feel overwhelmed or stagnant. 

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome and how did you overcome it?

Marketing the clinic’s services to entrepreneurial communities across the state is a challenge I continually face. Fortunately, we have always had a solid client pool through referrals and by word of mouth.

But I’m keen to improve our networks in rural Nebraska, particularly given the well-documented shortage of lawyers in most communities outside Lincoln and Omaha.  

How can the Nebraska community support you?

Keep the Weibling Entrepreneurship Clinic front of mind when folks in your orbit decide to start a company or a nonprofit. 

Legal issues are (understandably) not among the first priorities for someone just getting started, and hiring a lawyer can be intimidating or cost prohibitive. But our clinic students provide thoughtful, dedicated and free legal advising that can really help an entrepreneur understand and mitigate the risks they are taking. And I supervise all that work so you can feel confident in the advice. 

We take clients at least twice per year and are always looking for committed people seeking legal support who are willing to be a part of our students’ educational journeys.