Appellate Litigation Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation Product and Premise Liability Aviation Litigation Commercial Litigation Class Actions
Steven C. Marks holds a BA from the University of Florida (cum laude) and a JD from the
University of Miami (cum laude), where he was editor–in–chief of the Law Review. He is currently an alumni editorial-board member of the University of Miami Law Review. Steve is admitted to the Florida Bar. He is a member of the Bar and Gavel Law Society and the Order of the Coif, and is on
the Board of Directors of the University of Miami Law School Alumni Association (2003 to 2006).
He is a member of the Dade County Bar Association, American Bar Association (Aviation & Space Law Committee, Program Planning Committee for National Institute on Aviation Litigation,
editorial board member, Torts and Insurance Practice Section and Tort and Insurance Law Journal Committee, and The Brief); The Florida Bar; Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers;
The Association of Trial Lawyers of America (Aviation Law Section, Aviation Section); Dade County Trial Lawyers; Lawyer–Pilots Bar Association; American Board of Trial
Advocates (Miami Chapter); Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America, Trial Lawyers Honorary Society, and the Inns of Court.
Listed in Florida Trend's "Florida Legal Elite," 2009; Florida Super Lawyers, 2006-2011; Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators "New Star" 2006 and 2007; South Florida Legal Guide, Top Lawyers, 2007-2013; The Guide to the World's Leading Aviation Lawyers, 2008-2013; Best Lawyers in America 2007-2013; Chamber's USA's Guide to Leading Lawyers for Business (2008, 2009, 2010) and named as one of the Daily Business Review’s Most Effective Lawyers of 2010..
Steve focuses on personal injury and wrongful death litigation, product liability, aviation litigation, commercial litigation, class actions, premise liability and admiralty.
He has acted as lead counsel, appointed court counsel and/or counsel representing victims in a number of commercial major airline crashes, including: acting as lead Plainiff's counsel in the American Airlines Flight 331, crash in Jamaica, 2010; acting as co–lead trial counsel for
the California State Court plaintiffs after a Silk Air crash between Jakarta and Singapore in 1997; acting as lead liaison counsel for the State Court and Federal multi–district litigation (MDL) plaintiffs′ steering committees over the ValuJet
Flight 592 crash, Everglades, 1996, and acting as a member of the MDL plaintiff′s steering committee for the Arrow Air military charter crash, Newfoundland, 1985.
General and major commercial airline crashes he has handled include, among others: Central American Airways Flight 731, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 2011; Conviasa Airlines, Flight 2350, Bolivar, Venezuela, 2010; Aires Airlines Flight 8250, San Andres Island, Colombia, 2010; Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, Mediterranean Sea, 2010; American Airlines Flight 331, Kingston, Jamaica, 2009; Air France Flight 447, Atlantic Ocean, 2009; Colgan Air - Continental, Flight 3407, Buffalo, New York, 2009; Aeroflot-Nord, Flight 821, Perm Airport, Russia, 2008; SpanAir, Flight 5022, Barajas Airport, Spain, 2008; TACA Airlines, Flight 390, Tegucigalpa,Honduras, 2008; Santa Barbara Airlines, S.A., Flight 518, near Merida, Venezuela, 2008;
TAM Airlines, Flight 3054, Congonhas Airport, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007; Comair Flight 5191 on take off from Lexington, Kentucky, 2006; Sibir Airlines Flight 778 from Moscow Russia, 2006;
GOL Airlines, Flight 1907, mid–air collision in the Amazon, Brazil 2006; Chalk′s Ocean Airways Flight 101 air disaster, Miami, FL, 2005; Helios Airways air disaster near Cyprus, 2005;
Tropical Air, LET 410, Cap Haitian, Haiti, 2003; mid–air collision over German airspace involving Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and DHL Flight 611, 2002; American Airlines, Flight 587,
crash in Belle Harbor, Queens, N.Y., 2001; Papillon Airways, Inc. Eurocopter AS350–B2 helicopter in the Grand Canyon, AZ, 2001; Scandinavian Airlines at Linate Airport, Milan,
Italy, 2001; Air France Concorde tragedy 2000; Bell Helicopter BH 407 in Brazil, 1999; Cubana Air, Flight 3010, YAK–42, Valencia, Venezuela, 1999; TAESA Airlines Flight 725 from Uruapan,
Michoacan, Mexico, 1999; Hot Air Expeditions, near Cave Creek, AZ, 1999; Occidental Petroleum′s chartered Boeing 737 in Peru′s northern jungle, 1998; American Airlines,
Flight 1420, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1999; TAME Flight 422 near Bogota, Colombia, 1998; Swissair, Flight 111, Atlantic Ocean near Hailfax, Nova Scotia, 1998; Silk Air, Flight MI185, Palembang,
Indonesia, 1997; Fine Air, Flight 101, Miami, FL, 1997; Bell 407 helicopter in the Andros Islands, 1996; Millon Air Flight 406 en route to Miami, Florida from Manta, Ecuador, 1996; ValuJet,
Flight 592, Florida Everglades, 1996; Aero–Peru Flight 603 en route to Santiago, Chile from Lima, Peru, 1996; Aviation Development Corp. Airlines, Nigeria, 1996; Tarom Airlines,
Flight R0371, Bucharest, Romania, 1995; El Al cargo, Amsterdam, Holland, 1992; Surinam Airways Flight PY764 in Paramaribo, Surinam, 1989; Grand Canyon Airlines, Grand Canyon National Park
Airport, AZ, 1989; and Independent Air Flight 1851, Bergamo, Italy, 1989.
He also acts as lead trial counsel for countless victims of general aviation and military accidents, many involving foreign claimants, ranging from air balloons, flight training,
ground school, air ambulances, banner planes, aerobatics, helicopters, and propeller, turbo–prop and jet–powered aircraft, including, but not limited to, Cessna,
Cirrus, Beechcraft, Piper, Bellanca, Lear Jets, Citation Jets, Bell helicopters, Sikorsky helicopters, Robinson helicopters, Aerospatiale helicopters and countless other aviation manufacturers,
operators, maintenance facilities and private & public air traffic control centers.
Apart from aviation, and general personal injury and wrongful death practice, he also counsels foreign governments, including the Russian Federation, the Republic of Venezuela, Ecuador, Belize,
Honduras and numerous Brazilian states.
Among his many speaking engagements have been:
• “An Introduction to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act,” invited guest lecturer, Embry–Riddle 2001. Also an invited lecturer on the Embry–Riddle Aviation Program 2006
• “Recent Developments in Aviation Law,“ ABA Litigation in Aviation Seminar 1991 (co–author)
• Masters of the Courtroom Seminar, Dade County Trial Lawyers, 2002 and the Dade County Trial Masters Program, 2002–2003
• Forum Non–Conveniens panel member and co–chair, ABA Aviation & Space Law Convention Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Conference 2003
• ABA Panel on Forum Non–Conveniens, “An Update of Recent Decisions and An Analysis of the Legal Criteria,” 2003
• Discovery in Aviation cases, ABA Conference, Washington DC 2004, invited lecturer
• ATLA Aviation Section Program, Chicago, Program Chair
• Miami–Dade County Bar Association Young Lawyer Section′s First Annual “SuperLawyer Mock Trial Demonstration Seminar 2006”
• “A Discussion on the Basics of Litigating the Foreign Crash”, ABA Aviation & Space Law Convention 2006
• ABA Conference, Washington, D.C., October 2007 session on Aviation and Space Law Litigation, lectured on “Foreign Accidents––U.S. Defendants Frequently Argue Forum Non–Conveniens Motions; How are they Doing?”
• National Association of Legal Investigators, Inc., Mid–Winter Conference, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, January 2008
• Embry Riddle Aeronautical University′s 19th Annual Aviation Law and Insurance Symposium, lectured on “Handling Foreign Crash Litigation in the U.S. and Abroad”
• American Association for Justice, Annual Convention in Philadelphia, lectured on “The Fundamentals of Obtaining a Just or Full Compensation Aviation Jury Verdict”, July 2008
•Speaker at the Conference of the International Bar Association, Vancouver, Canada, October 2010
• McGill Conference on International Aviation Liability and Insurance, Moot Court Panels, Legal Argument, Forum non-conveniens and Mediation, Montreal, Canada, May 2011
Steve is the co-author, "Recent Developments in Aviation Law," ABA Litigation in Aviation Seminar, 1991. Author, "The Admissibility and Use of Demonstrative Aids," ABA, The Brief Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Vol. 32, No. 4, Summer 2003; "Handling Foreign Aviation Cases in the United States"; ABA Publication entitled "Litigating the Aviation Case from Pre-trial to Closing Argument," Third Edition, 2008. Author, “The Admissibility and Use of Demonstrative Aids,” ABA, The Brief (2003); and “Handling Foreign Aviation Cases in the United States”, ABA
Publication entitled “Litigating the Aviation Case from Pre–trial to Closing Argument”, Third Edition, 2008.
American Bar Association (Vice–Chair, Aviation and Space Law Committee, 1997–1998; Member, Program Planning Committee for National Institute on Aviation Litigation,
1991–; Editorial Board Member, Torts and Insurance Practice Section and Tort and Insurance Law Journal Committee, 1997–1998; “The Brief”, 1994–1997)
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Florida Bar
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Florida Justice Association
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American Justice Association (Treasurer, 1996–1997, Member, Executive Council and Section Leader′s Council, Aviation Law Section; Vice–Chair, 1996–1997 and Chair, 1998–1999, Aviation Section)
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Miami–Dade Justice Association
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Lawyer–Pilots Bar Association
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American Board of Trial Advocates (Vice–Chair, 1998–1999, Treasurer, 1999–2000, Secretary, 2000, President–Elect, 2002 and President, 2003, Miami Chapter)
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Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America, Trial Lawyers Honorary Society.
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