Steptoe Nabs Two National Law Journal DC Litigation Department of the Year Wins

(June 6, 2018, Washington, DC) — Steptoe’s Insurance and White-Collar Groups have been named DC Litigation Departments of the Year by The National Law Journal. Both practices, which were the sole winners in their respective categories, are profiled in a special report published in the June 2018 issue of the magazine. To select the winners, the editors asked litigation departments in the nation’s capital to describe their practices, including their biggest wins in 2017. The editors also procured feedback from clients. This marks the third time in four years that The National Law Journal has named Steptoe as the winner of its DC Litigation Departments of the Year in the white-collar category, and the second time in the insurance category. 

In 2017, Steptoe’s Insurance Group again scored big, precedent-setting wins in very complicated cases. Among them was Steptoe’s representation of St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Travelers, in a major asbestos-related coverage dispute. Steptoe secured published opinions by both the federal court in Maryland (March 2017) and the Fourth Circuit (March 2018) on a series of complicated issues. 

In the profile, Harry Lee, who co-leads the firm’s Insurance Group, states that the Fourth Circuit ruling will have lasting significance: “With two wins over 15 years over the same issue in the Fourth Circuit, not only will this be Maryland law, but likely will be followed in the Fourth Circuit and in other circuits around the country.” 

Steptoe scored another big asbestos-related win for a Travelers subsidiary, the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, in September when the Maryland Court of Appeals denied cert, putting to an end a 17-year fight that went to the appellate courts twice, involved more than 10-thousand claimants, and a had potential liability for the insurance carriers in the billions of dollars. 

Steptoe’s White-Collar Group was equally busy in 2017 with three federal jury trials conducted within a span of months. They included the defense of Richard Ireland in a high-profile case that involved “pay-to-play” allegations accusing Ireland of bribing Pennsylvania’s former state treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate. 

“We had to embrace the defense that ‘pay to play’ is not bribery,” states Brian Heberlig, co-head of Steptoe’s Compliance, Investigations, Trade and Enforcement Department. “Our defense was you may not like this, but there was no quid pro quo. Ireland may have made campaign contributions and received benefits, but they were not tied ­together.”

Steptoe secured a victory for Ireland at the midway point of the trial when the judge granted the team’s Rule 29 motion for acquittal. 

Throughout 2017, Steptoe’s White-Collar Group continued its work for Volkswagen in connection with the automaker’s ongoing obligations under the plea agreement reached at the beginning of the year with the Department of Justice in its criminal investigation into the diesel emissions controversy. Steptoe served as lead counsel to Volkswagen in the probe and is now assisting the company in connection with civil litigation in the United States and around the world. 

Read the profile on Steptoe’s Insurance Group at The National Law Journal (subscription required). 

Read the profile on Steptoe’s White-Collar Group at The National Law Journal (subscription required). 

About Steptoe 

In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.