Representative Engagements

Among many other cases, Steven has:

  • Counseled an African Government in an effort to bring about the extradition of two individuals accused of corruption-related crimes against one of its executive agencies (and pursued a Bar complaint against one of them, who happens to be a lawyer).
  • Acted on behalf of a Washington-based consultancy in a suit to collect its fee from a foreign embassy that refused to pay its invoices.
  • Represented a provider of virtual training modules in an arbitration with its customer, a large trade association.
  • On appeal, defended a woman accused and convicted of multiple white-collar crimes in State court in California.
  • Represented a group of individuals in a claim that a foreign government abused them in violation of international law.
  • Defended a Washington-based law professor in a malpractice action brought by a former client.
  • Pursued the reference to the U.S. Attorney, and subsequent grand jury proceedings, against an opposing party in civil litigation who offered fraudulent documents into evidence.
  • Represented a Chinese medical device manufacturer in a Hong Kong arbitration against an American distributor, alleging that the product did not conform to the contractual specifications.
  • Acted for a law firm sued in State court for malpractice despite an arbitration clause in its engagement letter.
  • Defended several malpractice cases on behalf of Members of the Bar.
  • Defended two trademark infringement suits brought against local businesses that had been using their marks without protest for decades.
  • Advised on the strategy to follow in a multi-party insider trading case in federal court in New York City.
  • Acted for a company that manages senior living facilities, in a suit (and appeal) concerning its right to the proceeds of a trust.
  • Represented a petfood company in a dispute with the manufacturer of defective packaging.
  • Represented a consumer-products manufacturer in a complex breach of contract/antitrust lawsuit brought by a retail chain, culminating in a jury trial in federal court in San Francisco.
  • Drafted the first petition ever presented to the Department of State seeking removal of a group from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and represented the organization on judicial review, on remand to the Department, and then in a successful petition for a writ of mandamus.
  • Represented an individual claiming that his prosecution, conviction, and conditions of imprisonment in a Latin American country constitute violations of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights.
  • Acted for an Italian wine producer in a dispute with a distributor in the United States.
  • Negotiated a multi-million dollar agreement for a multinational company outsourcing certain telecommunications services.
  • Designed and presented to a multinational client a series of contract templates, along with guidance notes and a training program intended to permit non-legal staff to negotiate acquisitions of hardware, software, and services.
  • Advised several American investors with claims of expropriation at the hands of states with which the United States has bilateral investment treaties.
  • Represented a significant local employer in a shareholders bet-the-company dispute, including a two-week jury trial and subsequent appeal.
  • Represented an agency of local government in a challenge to real estate tax assessment methodology.
  • Represented a major American interest in an international arbitration deriving from “the Banana Wars” between the U.S. and the European Union (arbitration in New York, applying Belgian law).
  • Acted on behalf of an American food producer in protracted negotiations with the European Commission and other interested parties in promoting implementation by the European Union of one of its concessions in the Uruguay Round of multinational trade negotiations, culminating in two requests for consultations and a negotiated settlement before the World Trade Organization (WTO).
  • Represented an international partnership of executive recruiters in defending its intellectual property against a former partner in Hong Kong in an arbitration in London applying Bahamian law.
  • Acted for an American publisher that had an exclusive licensing agreement with the Soviet Copyright Agency, which was breached after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (arbitration conducted in Stockholm).
  • Acted for an American attorney who was one of the first to secure a money judgment on behalf of victims of terrorism against a foreign state sponsor of terrorism in a dispute over compensation.
  • Represented two American manufacturers entitled to distribution of antidumping duties under the Byrd Amendment who were omitted from the list of eligible parties.
  • Acted for a U.S. steel producer in one of the only cases ever to seek injunctive relief under the 1916 Antidumping Act.
  • Represented the harbor authority of a Midwestern State that sought to recover its investment in an improvement on a Great Lakes shoreline built at the State’s expense.
  • Represented American multinationals with investment interests in Europe, monitoring and lobbying EU institutions in connection with legislative initiatives on company law, worker participation, and products liability.
  • Represented death row inmates in Texas, Virginia and Alabama, including appearances before State and federal trial courts, courts of appeal, and the highest courts of all three States.
  • Been involved in many of the significant cases under the Alien Tort Claims Act, including Filartiga v. Pena (2d Cir. 1979) and Doe v. Lumintang (D.D.C. 2001), in which a federal magistrate judge in Washington awarded survivors $66 million against an Indonesian general who gave orders to carry out atrocities in East Timor.
  • Represented the families of a group of dissidents against the current regime in Iran who have been living in Iraq since the 1980s, and were for six years protected by U.S. military authorities at Camp Ashraf.
  • Represented an American professional basketball player in an antitrust suit to obtain a license to play basketball in European “amateur” leagues.
  • Represented a former Yugoslav Republic in litigation in New York, defeating an effort to hold the successor states liable for the debts of the dissolved Socialist Federal Republic.
  • Represented a Central American government in the successful defense of an action to compel it to sell commercial assets to an American bidder.
  • Represented the Swiss subsidiary of an American manufacturer in a case concerning machinery components with latent defects not discovered until years after they were delivered and installed.
  • Represented an American food processor in a case of first impression concerning the scope of a contractual exclusion of “consequential damages.”
  • Represented parties both seeking and resisting judicial review of arbitral awards.
  • Acted for an American toy manufacturer in negotiating a joint venture in China and in withdrawing from a similar relationship in Italy.
  • Represented an American university operating in Europe, both in licensing matters before the District of Columbia government and in disputes concerning the right to use its name.
  • Served as Deputy Special Master in Petties v. District of Columbia, No. 95-0148 (PLF) (D.D.C.), resolving 15-20 matters all of which received the approval of the assigned Federal Judge.

 Details on any of these cases will be supplied on request.