Biography
Stephen S. Walters is head of the Litigation practice in the San Francisco office of Allen Matkins and vice chair of the firm's Litigation department. He specializes in complex business and commercial litigation. Steve has tried more than 100 jury and nonjury cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants, and has represented clients in major arbitrations and before trial and appellate courts throughout the country. Steve has handled almost every type of complex civil case for companies and individuals in a broad range of industries, including: securities, consumer, and wage and hour class actions; actions under sections 17200 and 17500 of California’s Business & Professions Code; energy and natural resources actions; breach of contracts involving complex transactions such as financing, mergers and acquisitions, construction, and long-term supply agreements; business tort cases alleging fraud and negligent misrepresentation, interference with contract, and breach of fiduciary duty; disputes under Articles 2 and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code; professional negligence; technology licensing and trade secret cases; cases involving challenges to public pension plan reforms; real estate litigation; partnership and corporate disputes; creditors’ rights and bankruptcy matters; products liability and group tort actions; gaming disputes and Indian law; First Amendment rights and defamation; and civil rights and other actions against federal, state, and local government agencies.
Steve is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a former law clerk on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before coming to Allen Matkins, Steve was a partner in a major Pacific Northwest firm where he specialized in complex litigation. He has taught courses on federal courts and constitutional law at the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern School of Law, and has spoken on a variety of topics relating to complex civil and constitutional litigation. Before entering private practice, Steve organized and worked for a small legal aid program in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia and served as assistant to the president, deputy general counsel, and acting general counsel of the national Legal Services Corporation in Washington, D.C. Steve has continued to be active in public service and pro bono work throughout his career in areas such as legal services to the poor, women's rights, educational issues, and death penalty representation.
Memberships
- American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
- Association of Business Trial Lawyers
- American Bar Association
- California State Bar Association
- The Bar Association of San Francisco
- Oregon State Bar
Accolades
- Listed for more than 15 years in Best Lawyers in America in bet-the-company, commercial and Regulatory (SEC, energy and telecom) litigation
- Recognized repeatedly in Chambers USA
- Selected for inclusion in Northern California Super Lawyers (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) and Oregon Super Lawyers (2006)
- Selected as one of the Top 10 Attorneys in Northern California by Super Lawyers
- Selected by Benchmark: Plaintiff as a Local Litigation Star (2011)
- Multnomah County (Oregon) Bar Association Pro Bono Award of Merit for challenge to restrictions on services provided by legal services programs (2007)
- Oregon State Bar President's Award for pro bono and public service work (2001)
- Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association President's Award for death penalty representation (2001)
- Oregon Women's Political Caucus "Good Guy" Award for abortion rights work (1988)
- Nominated for Stanford Law School National Public Service Award (2010)
Education
Steve received his B.S. in mathematics from Stanford University in 1967, and his J.D. from Stanford University Law School in 1972. Following graduation from law school, where he was an articles editor of the Stanford Law Review, Steve served as a law clerk to Judge Ben C. Duniway of the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco and to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bar Admissions
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Oregon
- U.S. District Court, Arizona
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims