Areas of Practice
- Complex Litigation & Discovery Center
- Government Contracts
- Insurance & Reinsurance
- Litigation
- Products Liability, Pharmaceutical & Mass Tort Litigation
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., magna cum laude, 1978, Editor, Georgetown Law Journal
- University of Maryland, B.A., magna cum laude, 1974, Phi Beta Kappa
Judicial Clerkships
- Hon. Edward S. Northrop, US District Court for the District of Maryland, 1978-1979
Bar & Court Admissions
- District of Columbia
- Maryland
Steve A. Fennell
Partner
1330 Connecticut Avenue, NWWashington DC 20036
TEL: 202.429.8082
FAX: 202.429.3902
Steve Fennell is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he is a member of the Litigation Department. Mr. Fennell’s litigation practice involves a broad range of complex civil matters concerning government, nuclear and construction contracts, antitrust, RICO and intellectual property disputes, environmental and asbestos insurance coverage, employment discrimination, and environmental injury cases.
Mr. Fennell has extensive experience in the litigation, trial, and appeal of contract and business disputes in industries such as construction, oil and chemical, telecommunications, electric utility, and nuclear energy.
The size and complexity of these cases has led to Mr. Fennell’s involvement in a number of lengthy trials over a 25-year career and many appellate arguments. He has experience in trial presentation in electronic courtrooms and has been an invited speaker at the annual Construction Superconference on managing expert witnesses.
Insurance
Mr. Fennell also has represented insurance companies in asbestos and environmental insurance coverage cases for over 20 years both at trial and on appeal. He also has spoken at various conferences on the trial of insurance coverage actions and has argued a number of landmark decisions.
Representative Matters
Litigation
- Currently serves as lead National Trial and Coordinating Counsel for a Fortune 100 company in asbestos, silica, and welding rod cases.
- Has served as lead counsel in litigation arising out of heavy construction projects, civil conspiracy and RICO claims, mergers and asset sales, and the shutdown and refurbishment of nuclear power plants.
Insurance
- Has served as lead counsel for individual insurers in such cases as DuPont, New Bedford Harbor, Reichhold, Carrier, United Technologies, Sussex County, DE, Harford County, MD, W.R. Grace, PECO Energy, and Kraft Foods.
Noteworthy
- Chair of the Litigation Department.
- Successfully prosecuted civil rights cases on behalf of cross-burning victims and members of the Washington deaf community.
- Currently serving as lead counsel representing Gulf War POWs in a suit against Iraq for damages arising out of the torture of the POWs while in captivity.
- Co-author of “Due Process at Sentencing: An Empirical and Legal Analysis of The Disclosure of Presentence Reports in Federal Courts,” 93 Harv. L. Rev. 1613-97 (1980), which publication led to the adoption of a revised Fed. Rule of Criminal Procedure No. 32.
- Co-author of “Antitrust Aspects of Joint Health Care Activities Affecting Price,” Working Paper No. 2, American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law (Mar. 24, 1989).
- Euromoney Expert Guide (2007)
- Euromoney Expert Guide (2006)














