A top-tier litigator who has served in all three branches of the U.S. government, Steve has played a pivotal role in resolving some of the most complex and contentious issues in environmental, natural resources, and energy law in both the public and private sectors for more than 25 years.


Steve represents clients in matters involving environmental permitting, natural resource damages, public lands, and energy disputes. He joined Marten following a distinguished career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Oregon, where he successfully handled many of the district’s most consequential and controversial environmental disputes during the last two decades. These cases involved resources and issues ranging from timber, water quality and use, developed recreation, transportation, grazing, protected species, wetlands, and energy (encompassing production, transmission, and rate-setting) matters. Steve has also handled cases and been at the forefront of various initiatives addressing highly sensitive environmental issues throughout the country, with a principal focus on the Western United States. A native Westerner, Steve has virtually unparalleled knowledge of the unique array of legal and policy issues related to management of natural resources and public lands in the region.

  • Represented U.S. Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture against consolidated challenges involving more than 100 different claims to Northwest Forest Plan. See Seattle Audubon Soc’y v. Lyons, 871 F. Supp. 1291 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 21, 1994), aff’d, 80 F.3d 1401 (9th Cir. 1996).
  • Represented Bonneville Power Administration against petition for review of its decision authorizing Whistling Ridge Energy Project to interconnect to Bonneville transmission system. See Friends of Columbia Gorge v. BPA, 716 Fed.Appx. 681 (9th Cir. Mar. 27, 2018).
  • Represented Bonneville Power Administration in challenge to its adoption of Residential Exchange Program Settlement Agreement pursuant to the Northwest Power Act. See Association of Public Agency Customers v. BPA, 733 F.3d 939 (9th Cir. 2013).
  • Represented Forest Service against challenge to its authorization of 10 years of livestock grazing within Wild & Scenic River corridors and ESA-listed fish critical habitat on National Forest. See Oregon Natural Desert Assn. v. Forest Serv., F&R, 2017 WL 9535170 (D. Or. Oct. 3, 2017), adopted as Op., 2018 WL 1811467 (Apr. 16, 2018), on appeal.
  • Represented Forest Service in challenge to its issuance of Special Use Permits to City of Bend authorizing replacement and operation of municipal water supply pipeline Central Oregon. See Landwatch v. Connaughton, 2014 WL 6893695 (D. Or. Dec. 5, 2014), aff’d on appeal, (9th Cir. Aug. 23, 2017).
  • Represented home builders in challenge to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s approval of the San Diego Multi-Species Conservation Program Habitat Conservation Plan under Endangered Species Act, authorizing incidental take of listed species within 900-square-mile area in San Diego County. See Southwest Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. Berg, 268 F.3d 810 (9th Cir. 2001).
  • Represented Forest Service against challenge to its Special Use Permit to construct and operate new chair-lifted mountain bike park and trail system at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. See BARK v. Northrop, 2016 WL 1181672 (D. Or. Mar. 25, 2016).
Education & Clerkships

  • J.D., Stanford Law School
  • A.B., Stanford University
  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Owen M. Panner, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon
  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Dave Frohnmayer, Oregon Attorney General
Admissions & Memberships

    • Oregon State Bar
Recognition & Activities

  • Recipient of multiple awards for distinguished government service, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Member, Senior Executive Service, 2000-03
  • Board Member, U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society, 2018-present
  • Pro Bono Counsel, Pura Vida Coffee, 2000-03
  • Recipient, West Publishing Hornbook Award, 1985-86
  • Regular Presenter at environmental and natural resources conferences, including U.S. Department of Justice National Advocacy Center, on various topics, including Endangered Species Act, Water Law, Forestry Law, NEPA, Administrative Law, Developed Recreation, Public Lands, and natural resource issues in the West
  • Adjunct Professor, Willamette University College of Law, Northwestern School of Law (of Lewis & Clark College), Stanford-in-Washington, University of Arkansas Law School
  • Senior Notes Editor, Stanford Law Review, Vol. 40 (1987-88)
Government Service

Steve’s career experience spans all three branches of the U.S. Government. In addition to nearly 20 years of service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Oregon, he served as:

    • Executive Director, Regional Ecosystem Office, 2000-03
    • Senior Counsel, U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, 1995-97
    • Honors Attorney, U.S. DOJ Environment & Natural Resources Division, 1990-95
    • Intern, U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield (OR), 1985
    • Law clerk to judges both in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

Combined with Steve’s extensive litigation record, this first-hand knowledge of how each branch of the federal government operates, both individually and in relation to each other as well as their counterparts at both the state and local levels, makes Steve ideally positioned to advise clients on government-facing energy and natural-resource matters, compliance issues, crisis management, and the full constellation of related private-party disputes.

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