Steve is Senior Counsel in Bartko Pavia’s Litigation Practice, where he focuses on antitrust, privacy, and complex commercial disputes. Before representing clients, he was the one conducting the investigations. He began his legal career at the Federal Trade Commission, where he led antitrust enforcement actions in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries and served as a key member of the team in FTC v. Actavis — a landmark case that reshaped how courts analyze pharmaceutical patent settlements under antitrust law. His contributions were recognized twice with the Janet D. Steiger Award, the FTC’s most prestigious honor. He then served as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, managing a caseload of more than 100 criminal cases.
That experience is not just a credential — it is a strategic advantage for every client he represents. Steve knows how government investigators think, what they look for, how they build their cases, and where they apply pressure. When he sits across from a regulator or advises a client facing a government inquiry, he is not guessing. He has been on the other side of that table. That inside knowledge is the kind of thing that cannot be learned in private practice alone, and clients feel it the moment they start working with him.
In private practice, Steve advises clients across healthcare, automotive, technology, and other industries on antitrust compliance, advertising law, and data privacy — helping them build programs that prevent problems before they start. When problems do arise, he handles complex litigation and government investigations with the same methodical precision he developed at the FTC. Aside from his experience providing pragmatic antitrust counsel, he has also helped clients respond to data breaches, develop privacy policies, and navigate the growing enforcement landscape around consumer protection. He also authors and speaks on emerging antitrust trends — his recent Law360 article on state attorneys general pursuing single-firm conduct reflects the kind of forward-looking perspective his clients rely on.
Steve is a rugby player at heart — someone who understands that the game is won through toughness, teamwork, and showing up fully for the people beside you. He is a sports enthusiast, a devoted father of three, and the kind of person that colleagues and clients alike describe the same way: high trust. In a profession where that quality is rarer than it should be, it is the thing that defines him most.