STEPHEN S. GEALY
Mr. Gealy has spent his career as a trial lawyer, carrying on the 125-year long Baylor Evnen tradition of excellence in courtroom advocacy. His personal injury defense practice over the years has run the gamut from soft tissue injury and minor property damage claims to catastrophic injury and wrongful death suits. His trial experience in state and federal courts includes well over one hundred trials of cases arising from fires, alleged product defects and automobile, aircraft, oil field, agricultural and industrial accidents, with particular emphasis in his later years on the defense of commercial motor carriers. As a result of his years of trial practice, Mr. Gealy has been recognized by his peers as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an Emeritus Fellow of the International Society of Barristers, an Emeritus Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. As an extension of his commitment to the litigation practice Mr. Gealy, for nearly 25 years, served the University of Nebraska as an Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching in the area of pretrial litigation.
While Mr. Gealy maintains his zeal for the courtroom, the focus of his practice has more recently shifted to his work as a mediator. He is a firm disciple of the mediation process as a method to shorten litigation, save money for the litigants and provide the participants in a very real sense with their “day in court”. Mr. Gealy has been honored with membership in the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, an invitation-only professional association, the membership of which consists of mediators and arbitrators distinguished by their hands-on experience in the field of civil and commercial conflict resolution and by their commitment to the practice of alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Gealy’s mediation calendar may be accessed at https://www.nadn.org/stephen-gealy.
Admitted to practice in: State of Nebraska, United States District Court, District of Nebraska; United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit; United States Supreme Court
Juris Doctor, University of Nebraska College of Law, 1982
Master of Arts in Public School Administration, University of Nebraska-Kearney, 1979
Bachelor of Arts, Hastings College, 1974
Professional Affiliations
- Nebraska State Bar Association
- Lincoln Bar Association
- Omaha Bar Association
- Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys
- DRI, Nebraska Representative, 1995-1999
- Nebraska Defense Counsel Association, Board of Directors, 1986 -1992, 1994 -2001, President, 1992 -1993
- Trucking Industry Defense Association
Area(s) of Practice
Mediation
Litigation
Personal Injury Defense
Transportation Law
Products Liability
Special Distinctions
- Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
- Emeritus Fellow, International Society of Barristers
- American Board of Trial Advocates, President, Nebraska Chapter, 2001 – 2002
- Diplomate Member, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals
- Emeritus Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America
- Listed in Great Plains Super Lawyers
- Listed in Corporate Counsel magazine’s Top Rated Lawyers in Transportation Law
- Life Fellow, Nebraska State Bar Foundation, Board of Directors, 2014 – Present; Officer, 2021 — Present
- Fellow, ABOTA Foundation
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Adjunct Professor of Law, 1996 – Present
- DRI State Leadership Award, 1999
- Nebraska Defense Counsel Association, Master Emeritus Award, 2019
- Robert Van Pelt American Inns of Court, Master of the Bar, 1995 – 2000
- Co-author, “A Career in the Courtroom: A Different Model for Success of Women Who Try Cases,” DRI (2004).
- Author “Ruminations on Argument,” Trials & Tribulations, The Newsletter of the Trial Tactics and Techniques Committee, p. 10. DRI (Spring, 2000).
- Author, “Protection Unlimited: A Preferred User’s Right to Means of Groundwater Diversion in Nebraska,” 62 Nebraska Law Review 270 (1983).
Community Service
- Cornhusker Council, Boy Scouts of America, Executive Board, 1985 – 2022; President, 1993 -1995
- Big Eight Conference Track and Field Official, 1983 -1993
- Nebraska State High School Track and Field Meet official, 1981 – present
- Lincoln Lodge No.19, A.F. & A.M.
- Sesostris Shrine Temple
Contact Info
Email Stephen