He was one of the five co-founders of William Mitchell College of Law and a charter member of the American Bar Association.

When the elder Stevens died prematurely from an illness contracted during his service with the Union Army in the U.S. Civil War, the family's loss of income forced the son to work to support his mother and three siblings.

Stevens argued at least three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court: Northern Pacific Railway v. Smith, 171 U.S. 260 (1898), Scott v. DeWeese, 181 U.S. 202 (1901), and Gertgens v. O'Connor, 191 U.S. 237 (1903).

The group had asked former Justice William B. Mitchell of the Minnesota Supreme Court to become the first Dean of the school, but the judge died from a sudden stroke before assuming office and Stevens took his place.

[3] Because he and many others in the Minnesota legal community thought the move unjustified, Stevens retaliated by openly discussing a challenge to Clapp for his Senate seat in the 1904 elections.