Steve is a partner in the firm's regional business practice group in the Jackson office.  His practice consists largely of corporate transactional work, including construction contract counseling, business and tax planning, and lending transactions. He represents owners, contractors and lenders on construction matters; buyers and sellers in asset purchase, stock purchase, and merger transactions; corporations with ongoing contractual, tax, and business planning needs; and financial institutions in corporate and regulatory matters, and commercial lending transactions. Steve has also served as bond counsel, trustee counsel, issuer's counsel, and company counsel on a number of bond issues, both taxable and nontaxable, including state economic development incentive financing and planning issues. Steve is among a select group of lawyers recognized in the category of Corporate/Commercial by Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business, as one of the top business lawyers in the state of Mississippi. The selection of lawyers by Chambers is based upon in-depth interviews with clients and lawyers with whom the selected attorney has worked with in the particular market being assessed. He also has been chosen by his peers to be recognized in The Best Lawyers in America.

• New York University, LL.M. in Taxation, 1992
• University of Mississippi, J.D., 1991
• Northeast Louisiana University, B.B.A. in Marketing, 1982

• Member: The Mississippi Bar; American Bar Association (Business Law; Taxation; Real Property and Probate Sections); National Association of Bond Lawyers; Mississippi Secretary of State's Business Law Advisory Group (works with the business community, academia, and the legislature in reviewing proposed and existing legislation affecting the business climate in Mississippi for the purpose of improving the legal structure under which businesses operate in the State)

• Serving as counsel for owners of new manufacturing plants being constructed in Mississippi; preparing and negotiating engineering, development, procurement and construction agreements, as well as supply and off-take agreements for the new facility; advising on construction delay and warranty issues and related damage claims.
• Advising construction contractors on Mississippi law for significant new engineering and construction projects in Mississippi; advising on all aspects of contracting requirements, bid proposals and review and advice on contracts.
• Serves as Mississippi counsel to a number of large out-of-state businesses in advising them on a broad array of matters including state and local economic incentives, acquisitions, financings, contractual, and state and local tax planning matters.
• Representation of companies seeking to obtain approval to participate in advantageous State of Mississippi economic incentive programs, and working with the companies in coordinating their activities with the Mississippi Development Authority and local economic development organizations to identify opportunities including bond financing the Mississippi Business Finance Corporation and ad valorem and state income tax exemption incentives available to new and/or expanding businesses in Mississippi.
• Representation of various companies and their shareholders seeking to acquire other companies and those who have received offers to sell themselves by working the entire transaction, from the initial stages of negotiations through the letter of intent and the negotiation and execution of the definitive agreements and transfer of funds to post-closing issues, such as release of funds from escrow agreements and offset provisions to future payments.