Steve’s practice epitomizes the intersection of law, policy, and journalism – with the realities of politics thrown in for good measure. For 35 years before going to law school, Steve was a successful publishing executive—including at Time and Scholastic—bestselling author, and the CEO of three internet start-ups. Since teaming up with Adam Pollock just over four years ago, he has learned to bring that unusual background, diversity of experience, and skills to the law. The result has been pretty extraordinary: recently, on behalf of 250,000 New York City municipal retirees, Steve led the fight against City Hall and two massive insurance companies—which wanted to erode retiree health benefits. The team won both injunctive protection for the retirees and an actual savings of $900 million. Steve never got the message that “you can’t fight City Hall” and feels very strongly that you have to stand up to bullies. When he and Adam first began talking about creating a firm, they agreed that they wanted to focus on certain types of cases—public impact— and both do good and do well. After being admitted to the New York Bar (happily on the first try), Steve worked for three years for legendary trial lawyers Tom Moore and Judy Livingston’s firm Kramer Dillof Livingston & Moore. There, he was the principal investigator and lead attorney on a multi-million-dollar False Claims Act qui tam case that resulted in a life-changing settlement for the client; won his first trial; and was awarded the American Bar Association’s Outstanding Services Award for the Military Pro Bono Project. Even before he went to law school, Steve had developed a national reputation for his insights about how juries respond to evidence. That was earned from both being the rare individual to have actually served on four juries through verdict, as well as from his analysis and writing on the subject. Indeed, Steve was the only outside contributor to Duke Law School Professor Neil Vidmar’s classic treatise, Medical Malpractice and the American Jury.

As a business executive, Steve was the creator and executive producer of Time Magazine’s Man of the Year television documentaries; co-creator and producer of Covermaker, developed with IBM, which was one of the first educational computer games; creator and publisher of the Time College Achievement Awards; and winner of two Clio Awards. As an entrepreneur, he was founder and CEO of 4-to-14.com / Brainquest; CEO of Living Independently (later sold to General Electric); and CEO of Multimedicus/The Child Health Guide, in partnership with Harvard and Dartmouth Medical Schools. The Child Health Guide was the winner of the 2008 Magazine Publishers Association’s Best Web Resource. Steve is the author of seven books—including three best-sellers—and more than 250 articles and editorials. Apparently, he was the first person ever to have Op-Ed articles in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal on the same day. Steve attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduated from Brown University, from New York Law School, cum laude, and completed the Senior Executives in National and International Security Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He co-chaired Hillary Clinton’s White House Task Force on early childhood literacy, the Prescription for Reading Partnership, and for ten years was a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Naval Institute. Steve and his wife live in Manhattan and have two grown sons: one a screenwriter in Los Angeles and the other a United States Marine.