As a Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown, Professor Uelmen did indigent criminal defense work while earning a LL.M. degree. He returned to California to serve in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, prosecuting organized crime cases. In 1970, he joined the faculty of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where he taught Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Trial Advocacy, Legal Ethics, and Counseling and Negotiation.

He also served as associate dean for two years and maintained an active part-time criminal defense practice, participating in the defense of Daniel Ellsberg in the Pentagon Papers trial and successfully challenging the murder conviction of Gordon Castillo Hall. He served as dean at Santa Clara from 1986 to 1994. In 1994 to 95, he served on the defense team for the trial of People v. O.J. Simpson.

Criminal law, evidence, criminal procedure, seminar in drug abuse law, advanced criminal procedure.

He has served as president of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and Santa Clara County Bar Association Law Foundation. In 1984, he won the ABA Ross Essay Prize. In 1996, he authored a one-actor play on the life of William Jennings Bryan, which has been produced in Omaha, Chicago, and Santa Clara.