Steve is a partner and the practice coordinator of the litigation group in the Baton Rouge office. His practice consists of environmental counseling and litigation. He routinely interacts with the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Quality in matters relating to litigation, permitting, compliance orders, and penalty orders in various areas of Louisiana. Additionally, he counsels lending and real estate institutions on such matters as environmental assessments, contractual arrangements, and wetlands issues. Before entering law school he gained substantive educational and practical experience in the areas of fisheries biology, water resources, conservation, and resource management. Steve is among a select group of lawyers, recognized in the category of Environment, listed in a nationwide client survey published in Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business.

• Louisiana State University, J.D., 1984; Managing Editor, Louisiana Coastal Law Journal
• Louisiana State University, M.S. in Fisheries Biology, 1977
• University of Maryland, B.S. in Conservation and Resource Development, 1974

• Member: Louisiana Bar Association

In addition to making presentations regarding legal issues involved with hazardous wastes and pesticides, Steve has published works in the scientific field, including:

• Co-Author: "Case Strategy and Trial Management Issues in Toxic Tort Cases," Chapter 6 of Toxic Tort Litigation, published by the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, American Bar Association, 2007
• "Enforcement Data: A Tool for Environmental Management," ELR --The Environmental Law Reporter's News & Analysis, Vol. XXXVI. Number 2, February 2006
• "Strategies for Success Both Now and in Days Ahead," Inside the Minds: Environmental and Land Use Laws, Aspatore Books (2006)
• "The Ongoing Friction Between Site Remediation and Tort Litigation," Natural Resources & Environment Vol. 17, No. 4, Spring 2003
• "Ground Water: Louisiana's Quasi-Fictional and Truly Fugacious Mineral," 44 Louisiana Law Review 1128 (1984)
• "Gut Contents of Forty-Four Lake Pontchartrain Louisiana Fish Species," Vol 2, Environmental Analysis of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, Its Surrounding Wetlands, and Selected Land Uses, J. Stone, Ed., LSU Press (1980)
• "Food and Feeding Habits of Juveniles and Adults of Selected Forage, Commercial and Sport Fishes in the Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana," M.S. Thesis (1977)
• "The Scientific Stream: A Suggested Additional Component to the Scenic Rivers Rationale," Proceedings, Scenic Rivers Symposium, LSU (1976)

• Cost recovery suit under several environmental and other theories tried before judge and jury in Middle District of Louisiana in early 1997.
• Representation of the defendant in a federal civil penalty case brought by U.S. Department of Justice for EPA against facility located in Ville Platte, Louisiana over NPDES permitting issues. Potential penalty in low seven-figure range; case settled after mediation before another federal judge for approximately $300,000.00 cash payment and agreement for Supplemental Environmental Project (tie-in of facility with town POTW and construction of connecting sewer line and pretreatment system).
• Representation of parish in injunction dispute with waste company (and in parallel federal cases in Texas in which parish was sued by EPA) over move to transport and dispose of lead-contaminated soil in landfill near Monroe, Louisiana. Tried to the bench in Monroe state court. Result: Parish obtained injunction blocking the disposal and succeeded in transferring Texas federal litigation to Louisiana, where it was eventually dismissed as moot. Injunction survived appeal to state appellate and supreme courts.
• Representation of NORM handling company which obtained a permit for a transfer station in Avoyelles Parish. Parish voted to amend parish ordinances to exclusively target client's facility. Firm obtained TRO in western district federal court based upon constitutional grounds (civil rights lawsuit). Insurer for defendants settled by removing offensive language from ordinance and paying 100% of clients' attorney fees and court costs.
• Representation of several railroad defendants in matter, which ultimately was resolved in a series of court-approved settlements in federal court in Baton Rouge. Served as court-appointed Liaison Counsel for third-party defendants and later in the same capacity for CERCLA defendants. Case involved both tort claims under state law and CERCLA cost recovery claims.
• Representation of defendant in tort/environmental contamination action involving claims by lessor that lessee contaminated site in Houma, Louisiana. Case was to be tried to jury; was settled on eve of trial for approximately one-fifth of plaintiffs' demand. Settlement involved obtaining "no further action" letter from Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality with respect to former UST tankhold on site.
• Representation of an insured of Lloyd's of London in suit by landowners against owner/operator of adjacent gasoline terminal, alleging groundwater contamination. Resolved by nuisance-value settlement after discovery indicated that plaintiffs were not ill as a result of water consumption and that localized contamination arose from plaintiffs' own buried fuel oil tank rather than from company's facility.