PRO BONO, ACADEMIA & SPEAKING
Pro Bono
For over 20 years, Steve has served as pro bono outside counsel to the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) on behalf of its U.S. office. The international NGO, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, removes landmines, cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance around the world and helps communities recover from conflict. MAG currently operates in more than 25 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe, including Ukraine, Gaza, Iraq, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Angola. As outside counsel, he has been to field operations in Lebanon and Vietnam. He has also provided pro bono representation to other non-profits including the Rock Creek Conservancy, as well as to indigent individuals in both civil and criminal matters.
In the field with MAG in Southern Lebanon
Academia
Teaching has been a part of Steve’s professional journey from his early days practicing law. For more than 25 years he has been an adjunct professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, for which he founded and directs the Washington D.C. Environmental Externship program. He has also been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. He served as a Professor for Environmental Law and Co-Director of the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic from 1992-1994. From 2000-2002, he was a visiting professor and Co-Director of the Environmental Law Clinic the University of Maryland School of Law. As the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic Co-director he supervised students bringing environmental citizen suits. At Maryland he supervised his students work on behalf of the City of Baltimore’s lead paint enforcement efforts.
Steve is currently a Senior Fellow of the Zicklin Center for Governance and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Among other issues, he has participated in Zicklin Center programs designed to address global issues related to compliance failure and corruption impacting international financial entities. He is also a Senior Fellow at NYU Law’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, where he has served as presenter and moderator for PCCE’s NACD accredited Directors’ Academy.
Reception for the Washington, D.C. summer Environmental Externship program at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Speaking & Community Engagement
A prolific speaker, Steve is frequently sought out to give thoughtful, timely and relevant talks, moderate and participate in live and virtual panel discussions, and deliver interactive workshops.
Starting in 2023, working with students and faculty of Howard University School of Law, the leadership of the Department of Justice, and long-standing professional friends, Steve helped to initiate the Charlotte E. Ray Lecture and Conference. The event celebrates the legacy of Ms. Ray, the first Black woman to be admitted to the practice of law in the United States. The Lecture and Conference in her honor is now an annual lecture of the Howard University School of Law.
Private entities (including corporate management, internal legal counsel, boards of directors, and industry associations), law schools and government organizations in the U.S. and abroad have engaged him to discuss and work through pressing issues related to compliance, enforcement, ESG, and management of change.
The NYU School of Law’s Annual PCCE Directors’ Academy