Stephen focuses on appeals and complex litigation. He has a background as a trial lawyer, having devoted many years to that craft first at the Department of Justice, in Washington, and then with Podhurst Orseck, before shifting his primary focus to the appellate courts. He has argued over two dozen appeals, primarily in Florida’s courts of appeal and the Florida Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He was appointed in 2009 by the Eleventh Circuit judges as one of only six lawyers in Florida on its Lawyers Advisory Committee. His practice spans complex tort and commercial cases. He is also well versed in election law, having served as lead counsel in Florida to a 2008 presidential campaign and having advised a gubernatorial campaign and numerous candidates for public office on Florida election law issues.
He was born April 5, 1970, in New York City. He is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D. cum laude 1996) and of Harvard College (A.B. magna cum laude 1992), and spent the year after college in England as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. After law school, Stephen served for two years as a law clerk to Judge Rosemary Barkett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and to Judge Mark Wolf of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1997 and the Bar of the District of Columbia in 1999. He speaks Spanish and has previously worked in Spain and Central America. Stephen is a member of the bars of the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Stephen has an “AV” rating from Martindale Hubbell and has been recognized in numerous publications for his abilities, including Chambers U.S.A. (Appellate), Best Lawyers In America (personal injury), and Benchmark (litigation). He has lectured for the Florida Justice Association on a wide range of topics, including class action law, Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trial Practices Act, attorneys fees in wrongful death cases, and the treatment of worker’s compensation liens in wrongful death cases, and has published work on the law of religious freedom under the First Amendment.
Stephen is an active member of the community. He serves on the Steering Committee of the fund-raising arm of Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc., and has previously served as Chairman of the Board of the American Constitution Society, South Florida Chapter, and was on the Board of Directors of the Florida Justice Association. He is a member of the Leadership Florida Class of 2007.
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second, Fifth, Seventh and Eleventh Circuits
U.S. District Courts, Southern District of Florida,
District of Colombia, District of Colorado
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