Steven M. Wilker

Practice Areas

Corporate & Business Owner Disputes

Intellectual Property Litigation

Contract & Commercial Disputes

Financial Services

Securities

Real Estate Litigation

Constitutional Law & Civil Rights

Information Privacy & Security

Insurance Recovery

Media, Sports & Entertainment

Government Law & Disputes

Appeals

Auto Dealers

Career

Steven is Co-Chair of Tonkon Torp’s Litigation Department and Information Privacy & Security Practice Group and Chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice. He counsels clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, media communications and technology, information security, energy, corporate governance, real estate, and finance issues. An AV-rated litigator, Steven is also a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property and Financial Services & Investment Management practice groups.

He handles complex litigation in trial and appellate courts and in arbitration, and advises clients on transactional and information security matters as well. He represents clients in local, regional, and national matters.

Steven’s extensive experience in intellectual property matters includes representing former employers, departing employees, and new employers in trade secret litigation and advocating for both plaintiffs and defendants in trademark, copyright, and patent litigation.

As an advisor to media, publishing and communications clients, such as EO Media Group, Steven addresses issues such as applicability of media shield laws, reporters’ privileges, prior restraints on publication, defamation, invasion of privacy, news gathering methods, public records, public meetings, licensing, and copyright.

Steven advises clients regarding their information security and privacy issues, including appropriate responses to actual and potential breaches of data security, and providing notice to affected persons in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. He also advises clients on the mitigation of litigation risk in connection with incident responses. In addition, Steven serves as the firm’s Information Security Partner and serves on the firm’s internal IT Security Committee.

Steven has broad experience in securities litigation and arbitrations for issuers, brokers, and customers. He also has substantial experience in disputes concerning valuations, earn-outs, indemnities, and other issues arising out of corporate and financing transactions.

A strategic advantage Steven brings to his client’s matters is his skill in presenting technical issues and financial data in an accessible and compelling manner.

Steven has extensive appellate experience, having briefed and argued multiple appeals at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Oregon Court of Appeals. He has also briefed and/or argued appeals at the U.S. Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth, Tenth, and Federal Circuits, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, the Oregon Supreme Court, the Washington Supreme Court, the Washington Court of Appeals, and the California Court of Appeal.

After law school, Steven served as a law clerk for the Honorable Stephen V. Wilson, United States District Court, Central District of California, and the Honorable Edwin J. Peterson, Chief Justice/Associate Justice, Oregon Supreme Court.

Professional Memberships

Multnomah Bar Association

American Bar Association

Federal Bar Association

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Oregon State Bar

State Bar of California

Washington State Bar Association

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th, 9th, 10th, D.C., and Federal Circuits

U.S. District Courts for the District of Oregon, the Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern Districts of California, and the Western and Eastern Districts of Washington

U.S. Tax Court

U.S. Court of Federal Claims

Work Highlights

Tonkon Torp Wins Again in Ongoing Defense of Oregon State Bar

Tonkon Torp celebrates another victory for the Oregon State Bar in the ongoing challenge presented in Gruber v. Oregon State Bar and Crowe v. Oregon State Bar. At question in both cases is whether compulsory membership in the Oregon State Bar violates individual rights to free speech and free association under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

Tonkon Torp Wins Ballot Challenge for Oregon Agriculture Coalition

Tonkon Torp’s Government Solutions Practice Group is celebrating a successful effort on behalf of the Oregon Farm Bureau seeking changes to an Attorney General’s ballot title, caption and summary.

Tonkon Torp Leads CamelBak to Victory at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and Federal Circuit

Tonkon Torp has won a significant patent case for its client, CamelBak Products. CamelBak, based in Petaluma, California and founded in 1989, invented the hands-free hydration category and is the global leader in personal hydration gear. In November 2014, CamelBak was sued for patent infringement on a lid assembly for a beverage container that included cleaning features.

Tonkon Torp Obtains Oregon Supreme Court Victory for ACLU

Tonkon Torp attorneys Steven Wilker, Sarah Einowski and Gwen Griffith, working on behalf of the ACLU of Oregon, won a large victory in the Oregon Supreme Court that strengthens the public’s right to records. Find details and more featured cases here.

Steven Wilker Brings ACLU Case to Oregon Supreme Court

Steven Wilker recently presented arguments to the Oregon Supreme Court on behalf of the ACLU of Oregon. At issue is the ACLU’s request for the release of public records from the City of Eugene relating to an incident in 2008 in which a Eugene police officer twice “tased” protestor Ian Van Ornum while he was prone on the ground at an anti-pesticide rally.

Balancing Free Speech and Presidential Security – Wilker Argues at the U.S. Supreme Court on First Amendment Issue

On March 26, 2014, Tonkon Torp litigator Steven Wilker argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the ACLU of Oregon in Wood v. Moss, a political viewpoint discrimination case. Find details and more featured cases here.

Education

Awards