Steve grew up in a small farming community in Southern Illinois not far from the Kentucky border known as Salem, Illinois. His hometown was also the birthplace of William Jennings Bryan. Steve was the President of his high school’s student government and was also a standout on its football, basketball and track teams. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1972 where he was a sprinter on its varsity track team. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army on the day of his graduation and immediately went on active duty for two years. While serving in Ft. Benning, Georgia, he was asked to become the Brigade Legal Officer for the 197th Infantry Brigade even though he was not yet a lawyer.
He served in this position for 18 months and tried over 100 Special Courts Martial, ten of which were jury trials as a prosecutor. After he completed his tour in the Army, he attended Cumberland School of Law where he graduated summa cum laude in 1977. After clerking for U.S. District Judge, James H. Hancock, he began his legal career in representing plaintiffs in civil ligation for the past 40 years. He has taught courses in trial work for the American Association for Justice (AAJ) at such prestigious law schools as Harvard, Georgetown, Stanford, University of Wisconsin, University of North Carolina and the University of Alabama. He has been listed as a top 50 lawyer for Alabama in Super Lawyers for the past 8 years. Steve has been married to his wife, Karen, for 51 years and has three children and five grandchildren who all live in the Birmingham area.
“I enjoy the creative side of finding ways to help people enforce their rights.”
Admitted
- Alabama
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Education
- Cumberland School of Law, Samford University (J.D., summa cum laude, 1977)
- Phi Delta Phi
- Chief Justice, Moot Court
- Board Editor, Alabama Trial Lawyers Journal 1987
- University of Illinois (B.A., 1972)
Professional memberships and affiliations
- Birmingham Bar Associations (Secretary Treasurer, 1985; President, 1997)
- American Bar Associations Alabama State Bar (Recipient, Judge Walter P. Gewin Award, 1993)
- American Association for Justice
- Alabama Trial Lawyers Association (Member: Executive Committee, 1982— Alabama Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Appellate Procedure, 1982 2001)
- International Society of Barristers
- American Board of Trial Advocates (Advocate; Alabama Chapter, President, 1991 Member, National Board of Directors)
- Fellow: Alabama Law Foundation (2006)
- National College of Advocates
Reported cases
- Continental Casualty Ins. Co. v. McDonald, 567 So. 2d 1208 (Ala. 1990)
- Shumaker v. Johnson, 571 So 2d 991 (Ala. 1990)
- Dempsey v. Auto Owners Ins. Co., 717 F.2d 556 (11th Cir. 1983)
- Traveler’s Indemnity Co. of Illinois v. Griner, 809 So. 2d 808 (Ala. 2001)
- University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, P.C. v. Bush, 638 So.2d 794 (Ala. 1994)
Recent publications and presentations
- 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Common Law Torts: An Analysis of Procedural Pitfalls, 12 Cumb. L. Rev. 99 (1981)
- The Pursuit of Damages for Mental Anguish in Alabama, Ala. Trial Law. J., Jan. 1982
- Bad Faith in Alabama: An Infant Tort in Intensive Care, 34 Ala. L. Rev. 563 (1983)
- Emotions and Pain, Ala. Trial Law. J., Spring 1987
- Adornment or Graffiti?, Ala. Trial Law. J., Fall 1987
- Final Argument, Ala. Trial Law. J., Summer 1988
- Law and Order in Corporate America: Neighborhood Watch in Community Courtrooms, Ala. Trial Law. J., Winter 1988
- Polishing Juror Buttons, Ala. Trial Law. J., Summer 1989 A Trial Lawyer’s I.O.U., Ala. Trial Law. J., Fall 1989 Art and the Trial Lawyer, Ala. Trial Law. J., Spring 1990
- Trial Lawyers and Civility, Ala. Trial Law. J., Spring 1990
- Cross Examination-Working Without a Net?, Ala. Trial Law. J., Fall 1990
- Shylock’s Scalpel-Recent Alabama Decisions on Punitive Damages-A Pound of Flesh But Not One Drop of Corporate Blood?, Ala. Trial Law. J., Summer 1991
- Demonstrative Evidence: Sensual Involvement, Ala. Trial Law. J., Spring 1992
- Opening Statement, Ala. Trial Law. J., Winter 1992 Videotape,
- Creative Demonstrative Evidence, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, 1995
- Closing Argument, Ala. Trial Law. J., Summer 1996
- A Practitioner’s Guide to Alabama’s Tort of Bad Faith, Ala. Lawyer, Sept. 1996
- What is Outrage?, Ala. Trial Law J., Fall 2001