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Am Law 100 firm with practices in Business, Digital Assets and Data Management, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Litigation and Tax.

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A ‘Patent’ Lack of Transparency and Good Faith: District Courts’ Inherent Authority to Police Party Conduct (The Legal Intelligencer)

Methods To Allocate Tariff-Related Risks in M&A Agreements

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James Sherer Moderates, Jennifer Negron Presents on Insights from Legalweek 2025 for ACEDS New York Metro Chapter

In his more than three-decade career, Steve has handled many of the nation’s most challenging and important legal, business, regulatory, enforcement and policy matters, both from the private sector and government perspectives. Many of his engagements involve existential stakes for the parties involved.

Steve has represented CEOs, advised boards, appeared in courts all over the nation, testified multiple times before Congress, led a more than 5,000-person/$1.6 billion law enforcement and regulatory agency, litigated high-stakes business disputes and completed extensive public interest work for a wide array of clients.

In addition to his leadership and advisory experience, Steve’s skills as a practicing lawyer are widely sought after. In his career, Steve has dealt with investigations or legal disputes in every state and numerous countries.

Steve began his career as a law clerk to The Honorable Stanley Sporkin in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and later served as counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He also handled dozens of complex federal investigations during his years as a prosecutor with the Civil Rights Division. These foundational experiences laid the groundwork for his significant contributions to law and public service.

core/freeform

J.D., Havard Law School, 1991, 

A.B., Dartmouth College, 1988, 

<ul>
<li>The Best Lawyers in America®
<ul>
<li>Ohio: Criminal Defense: White-Collar (2019 to 2022)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The Legal 500 United States (2017 to 2018, 2020)
<ul>
<li>Recommended in Dispute Resolution &#8211; Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense</li>
<li>Recommended in Corporate Governance </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Northeast Ohio Chapter of the American Constitution Society: Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones Award for Public Service (2016)</li>
<li>Multiple Letters of Commendation from United States attorneys general, FBI directors, inspectors general and others</li>
<li>Exemplar Award, Recovery Resources, for organizing and leading the Heroin and Opioid Task Force aimed at a multidisciplinary approach to the opioid epidemic (2015)</li>
<li>Cuyahoga County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services: Community Partner of the Year (2014)</li>
<li>Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association&#8217;s Pace Setter Diversity and Inclusion Award (2012)</li>
<li>William D. Neumann Prosecutor of the Year: International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators (1998)</li>
</ul>

Cleveland

Washington, D.C.

Outgoing Director of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Steven Dettelbach to Rejoin BakerHostetler

BakerHostetler Attorneys, Practice Areas Shine in The Legal 500 2022 Guide

Chambers USA Guide 2022 Honors 145 BakerHostetler Attorneys and Recognizes 62 Practice Areas

191 BakerHostetler Attorneys Named in 2022 “Best Lawyers” List; 10 Recognized as “Lawyer of the Year”

BakerHostetler Boosts High Marks in the Legal 500 2018 Annual Guide

2017 Year-End Securities Litigation and Enforcement Highlights

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Government 
<ul>
<li>Appointed by the President and Senate-confirmed as Director, Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Served as Chief Executive Officer of major law enforcement and regulatory agency with $1.6 billion annual budget and more than 5,000 employees. Led significant policy and operational reforms, modernized agency functions and served as Administration’s lead on numerous issues before Congress, the American public, regulated industries and foreign nations.</li>
<li>Served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, leading high-profile federal prosecutions that significantly reduced violent crime, protected civil rights, held corporate wrongdoers accountable and enhanced community safety.</li>
<li>Engaged with industry to strengthen public safety-based regulatory measures, as well as led national implementation of new statutes aimed at diminishing firearms violence.</li>
<li>Worked with technology leaders to modernize major IT systems to both enhance law enforcement use of new intelligence and ballistic tools and also enhance cybersecurity.</li>
<li>Member: Ohio Ethics Commission. Appointed by Governor to state-wide ethics watchdog agency.</li>
</ul>
Business and Securities Fraud
<ul>
<li>Represented publicly traded company in responding to FBI and SEC investigation of stock manipulation. Advised board and senior corporate leaders, conducted internal investigation and presented findings to government, which resulted in declination.</li>
<li>Led internal investigation for Special Committee of Board of public company regarding allegations of financial impropriety and self-dealing. Presented findings internally, resulting in internal reforms and remedial actions with no public fallout or damage to company.</li>
<li>Directed and handled personally numerous enforcement actions against significant financial and business fraud operations, developing strategic enforcement initiatives that dismantled major fraudulent schemes.</li>
<li>Represented executives in major international environmental and criminal probes. Despite multiple clients being identified as targets, no client was ever charged by any U.S. law enforcement or prosecutorial authority.</li>
</ul>
Commercial Litigation
<ul>
<li>Represented major financial services firm in federal civil trial alleging malpractice and fraud. Obtained favorable result for client in case brought by major healthcare organization.</li>
<li>Represented Am Law 50 law firm and three leading partners in federal civil complaint brought against them by opposing counsel. Obtained dismissal of all counts.</li>
<li>Represented CEO of major international hospital system in federal criminal probe. Client and employing organization were totally excluded from all involvement in major case against former joint venture partner.</li>
<li>Successfully represented major hospital system in federal class action suit based on cybersecurity/privacy-related allegation.</li>
</ul>
Public Corruption and Foreign Influence
<ul>
<li>Represented elected official in high-profile criminal state and federal investigations. Matters were concluded with no charges or other legal actions taken against client.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Successfully prosecuted numerous high-profile public corruption cases, resulting in significant convictions.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Developed anti-corruption protocols that significantly improved governmental transparency by implementing policies that enhanced accountability.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Spearheaded educational programs aimed at preventing and identifying corrupt practices, developing initiatives to raise awareness and empower officials to combat corruption.</li>
</ul>

Steven M. Dettelbach

Steven M. Dettelbach

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