"Federal Tax Simplification: Realities and Opportunities" will be the topic when UNLV law professor Steve Johnson delivers the first annual Wiegand Lecture on Tax Law on April 22.

The lecture is set for 5:30 p.m. at UNLV in Boyd Hall, Room 102. The public is invited to attend this free lecture and the reception that will follow.

Johnson is the holder of the E.L. Wiegand Professorship at UNLV's William S. Boyd School of Law. A nationally recognized expert in tax law, Johnson is a graduate of New York University School of Law. He practiced law privately in New York City and with the office of the chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. He taught for several years at the Indiana University (Bloomington) School of Law, where he achieved the rank of full professor and established himself as a leading author on federal income tax matters. He joined the Boyd School of Law faculty in 2001 and was designated the E.L. Wiegand Professor in 2002.

The E.L. Wiegand Foundation represents the legacy of E.L. Wiegand, an inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who resided in Reno. Foundation chairman Skip Avansino provides the leadership to perpetuate the values of this extraordinary man by rewarding excellence throughout the world. Because of the interest of the foundation in educational and tax matters, it established the E.L. Wiegand Professorship at the Boyd School of Law in 2001. As a part of that professorship, each year the law school will present a program on tax matters. The lecture by Johnson is the first of these programs.