In more than 110 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions.
Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington.
The firm is particularly noted for its capabilities in:
- White-collar defense and other government investigations and enforcement including anti-corruption and economic sanctions, fraud, money laundering, criminal antitrust, and tax investigations, examinations, and enforcement actions;
- High-stakes litigation particularly involving complex commercial claims and cross-border disputes;
- Patent and technology litigation especially life sciences, trade secrets, and Section 337 claims and controversies arising from disruptive technologies;
- Preventive international corporate compliance particularly FCPA/anti-corruption, economic sanctions/export controls, national and cybersecurity, including program development and implementation, transaction counseling, and internal investigations; and
- Challenging regulatory issues before the US government particularly agencies addressing energy, the environment, tax, trade, transportation, telecommunications, technology, and the Internet, as well as regulatory matters in Brussels, London, and Beijing.
Steptoe has a strong litigation track record. In 2021 and 2022 the firm took more than 80 cases to trial, acting for plaintiffs and defendants equally.
In 2022 the firm delivered more than 31,000 hours of pro bono hours across more than 600 matters, equivalent in value to more than $850,000.
The diversity of the firm is a critical factor in its success. The majority of Steptoe's nine offices are managed by women; the majority of Steptoe’s practice groups have women as leaders; the firm’s fourteen-person elected compensation committee includes six women; and the firm's nine-person elected executive committee includes three women.
The firm's eight-person professional business services leadership is equally diverse, with half the c-suite made up of women, including three women of color, and other leaders who openly identify as LGBTQ+.
