Steve Susman

Activist, Business leader, Jewish, Lawyer, Philanthropist

In 1980, Stephen D. Susman founded Susman Godfrey, the first firm in the country to limit its specialty to commercial civil litigation representing both sides of the docket. The firm now has 120 lawyers in offices in Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. It was just named America’s leading trial firm: "By any metric — whether it’s money, U.S. Supreme Court clerks or bet-the-company cases — Susman Godfrey runs circles around everyone else." Susman established the Civil Jury Project at NYU School of Law where he is an adjunct faculty member and the executive director of the Project. Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers twice named Susman the Leading Commercial Litigator in the World just as The National Law Journal's featured him as one of the nation's top ten litigators, and The Best Lawyers in America recognized him in the distinguished group of attorneys who have made the list for 25 years or longer. For a complete list of all cases Susman has tried and for a list of clients, opposing counsel and judges who have seen him in action, go to http://www.susmangodfrey.com/Attorneys/Stephen-D-Susman/#Pane8. Susman has been a pioneer of alternative fee agreements that pay trial lawyers, both for plaintiffs and defendants, for result, not effort. His approach to trials is described in How Susman Godfrey Handles Cases which you can find at http://www.susmangodfrey.com/Why-Susman-Godfrey/How-we-handle-cases/. His passion is to make litigation less expensive and trial lawyers, more efficient. See http://trialbyagreement.com/, a blog he has created. Susman has recently opened a NYC office for his firm and now splits his time between his offices in NYC and Houston where he also has 4 children and 6 grandchildren. He and his wife Ellen also spend time skiing, hiking and biking when visiting their second homes in Aspen and Napa.

Doing something about climate change; making trials cheaper and more reliable; preserving the right to a jury trial; building a progressive infastructure

Juries, Trial Lawyer