Biography
Steve, a partner who has practiced at the firm since 1982, is a member of the firm's Corporate Department and both its Energy Transactions/Projects and M&A/Private Equity practice groups. He was a founding member of its worldwide Project Finance and Development practice and is also a member of the firm's Energy and Infrastructure Practice Coordinating Committee and its Brazil and Africa focus groups. Currently based in the firm's Houston office, from 1995 to 2001 Steve was the Managing Partner of V&E's first Asian office.

Steve has broad experience in representing sponsors/developers and project companies, sellers and buyers, financial institutions, private equity investors, and other parties to major transactions relating to oil and gas, LNG, power, refining, midstream, processing, petrochemical, renewables and cleantech, pipeline, and other energy industries, with emphasis on project finance and development, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, foreign direct investment, private equity and venture capital, and restructuring and reorganization transactions, including ones involving climate change, carbon capture, emissions credits, and related issues.

In recent years, Steve has worked on over 50 major transactions in these areas, in jurisdictions spread over five continents. He has been named in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 in the practice areas of Energy Law and International Trade and Finance Law; Euromoney’s Best of the Best 2010 and 2008 as one of the top 25 energy lawyers in the United States; The International Who's Who of Oil & Gas Lawyers, 2010 and 2011; Legal Media Group’s (Euromoney's) inaugural edition of the Expert Guide to Leading Practitioners: China, 2011, in Energy, M&A, and Private Equity; Legal Media Group’s (Euromoney's) Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Project Finance Lawyers, 2010 and Legal Media Group’s (Euromoney's) Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Energy and Natural Resource Lawyers, 2011; PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2009/10 as a leading energy lawyer; and as a “Top Notch Lawyer” in international law, Texas Lawyer’s Go-To Guide, 2007. In addition, Steve for a number of years was named one of Asia’s Leading Lawyers in Asia Law & Practice surveys of practitioners in the region.

Steve has also served as co-head of the firm's Middle East/North Africa practice group. In addition to his roles within the firm, Steve serves as Past Chair of the International Law Section of the State Bar of Texas (having served on its Council since 2004), as a member of the Board of Directors of the Houston World Affairs Council, and as a member of the Texas Supreme Court Task Force on the practice of international law. Steve's undergraduate degree is in Chemical Engineering.