PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Steve is a former General Counsel of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a former Chief of the Criminal Division at the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC. Steve’s practice spans many of the most pressing issues facing businesses today, including cybersecurity and privacy, criminal antitrust, healthcare fraud, money laundering and financial institutions fraud, and securities fraud matters.

He has been the managing partner of the Washington DC Office of a major international law firm where he was also the Co-Chair of the firm’s Data Security and Privacy Practice. He has represented numerous corporate and individual clients in a broad variety of complex regulatory, civil and criminal enforcement and litigation matters and conducted dozens of sensitive internal investigations. He has also served as the Chief Legal Officer of a global fintech company.

As the chief legal officer for DHS from 2013 to January 2017, Steve advised senior Department leaders on a wide range of significant legal, policy, and operational issues, including cybersecurity, data privacy, CFIUS, aviation security, immigration and border security, customs enforcement, government procurement, and the protection of critical infrastructure.

In 2023, Steve was selected by the Deputy Secretary of Defense to lead the DoD Working Group on Commercially Available Information, which developed a DoD-wide policy framework governing the acquisition, use, privacy, security, and retention of any data that a DoD entity purchases from a commercial source, including data used in connection with AI applications. From 2022 to 2023, he was a Senior Advisor at the Homeland Security Department, where he advised the Secretary and Under Secretary for Intelligence & Analysis on emerging technologies, intelligence policy, and mission alignment issues. 

Steve has an extensive history of public service, including more than 17 years as a federal prosecutor, during which he was lead or co-counsel in more than two dozen jury trials, conducted and supervised numerous white collar grand jury investigations in jurisdictions across the country. He served for three years as a Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the Justice Department, before becoming the first chief of the newly created Fraud and Public Corruption Section within the DC US Attorney’s Office, where he supervised all federal white collar and public corruption cases in the office. Two years later, he was promoted to be the Office’s Chief of the Criminal Division, where he oversaw all federal criminal prosecutions.

PRACTICE AREAS

EDUCATION

• Stanford University, J.D., 1986: with Distinction; Senior Article Editor, Stanford Law Review; Oehlmann Prize for outstanding legal writing
• Yale University, B.A, 1982: magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa

BAR ADMISSIONS

• Washington, D.C.

CLERKSHIP

• Honorable Laurence H. Silberman, US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit 

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Panelist, “National Security and Legal Implications of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies,” ABA National Security Law Conference (November 2019)

Panelist, “National Security, Ransomware and Cyber-Attacks,” Incident Response Forum (April 2019)



Keynote Speaker, “CFA Society of New York,” Cybersecurity Conference (April 2019)

Panelist, “Cryptocurrencies and Cybercrime: Splintering the Value Chain,” Digital Crimes Consortium Conference (March 2019)

Panelist, “Homeland Security Law and the Private Sector,” ABA 12th Annual Homeland Security Law Institute, Washington, DC (September 2017)

Panelist, “The Role of Lawyers in Cybersecurity,” ABA 12th Annual Homeland Security Law Institute, Washington, DC (September 2017)

Panelist, “Regulatory Update & Strategies to Manage Cyber Risk,” Legaltech West 2017, San Francisco, CA (June 2017)

Panelist, Cybersecurity for Lawyers, Wilson Center, Washington, DC (September 2016)

Panelist, Cybersecurity and the Lawyer, US Department of Homeland Security training conference for federal lawyers, Washington, DC (June 2016)

SIFMA Cyber Law Seminar, Keynote Address, New York NY (June 2016)

Privacy and Cybersecurity Roundtable, Washington, DC (April 2016)

Speaker, Introduction to Homeland Security Law, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glynco, Georgia (March 2016, September 2015, and March 2015))

PUBLICATIONS

“Increasing Security while Protecting Privacy,” chapter in Beyond 9/11: Homeland Security for the Twenty-First Century

(MIT Press 2020)

Co-Author, “Digital deception: Is your business ready for ‘deepfakes’?” Business Insurance (March 2020)

Co-Author, “In-House Counsel’s Guide to Conducting Internal Investigations,” O’Melveny & Myers Handbook, (October 2010)

“New Incentives for Corporations to Maintain Effective Compliance and Ethics Programs,”

O’Melveny & Myers Client Alert (May 2010)

“Start Talking — Or Else,”

Legal Times (August 2008) (with Meaghan McLaine)

“Stolt-Nielsen Finally Gets Amnesty”

(January 2008)

“Criminal Enforcement of Export Control/Sanctions Laws Announced as Top Priority of Justice Department and Partner Agencies Just as Higher Penalties Authorized”

(October 2007)

“Negotiating Justice: Prosecutorial Perspectives on Federal Plea Bargaining in the District of Columbia,”

43 American Criminal Law Review 1063 (2006) (with Mary Patrice Brown)

MEMBER

Member, Council on Foreign Relations (2018 to present)

Member, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Merit Selection Panel for U.S. Magistrate Judge Candidates (2020)

Distinguished Fellow, Syracuse University Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (2019 to present)

Co-Chair, American Bar Association Homeland Security Law Institute (2017 to 2020)

American Bar Association Advisory Committee to the Standing Committee on Law and National Security (2017 to 2020)

Stanford Law School, Board of Visitors (2008 to present)

Executive Board, Assistant United States Attorney Association (2002 to 2013)

Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court (1990 to present; Treasurer, 1999 to 2013)