Steven J. German · Phoenix, Arizona. A Lawyer People Trust. A Record That Proves Why.
For more than 30 years, Steve has represented individuals and families facing some of life’s hardest moments. He has spent his entire career doing one thing: standing up for people against the institutions that hold all the cards.
Steve started his career in 1993 at one of Phoenix’s large downtown law firms, where he learned exactly how insurance companies and big corporations defend themselves. In 1999 he put that insight to work for the other side — the injured, the denied, the grieving — and he has never looked back.
Clients often say Steve seems too nice to be a lawyer. His opponents know better. He prepares every case as if it is going to trial, and he has taken on — and beaten — billion-dollar insurance companies, hospitals, manufacturers, and government entities. He has recovered tens of millions of dollars for his clients, including a $6.5 million jury verdict in a disability insurance bad-faith case.
A pioneer in the future of law. When Arizona became the first state in the nation to eliminate the ethical rule barring non-lawyer ownership of law firms, Steve founded one of the state’s very first Alternative Business Structure (ABS) law firms, and the Arizona Supreme Court appointed him to the ten-person committee that reviews and licenses ABS firms statewide — a role he continues to hold.
Trusted with national leadership. In 2023, Judge David G. Campbell appointed Steve to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Bard PowerPort multidistrict litigation (MDL 3081) — cases from all over the country, centralized in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona — where Steve also serves as liaison counsel to the Court.
Court Appointments
Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee & Liaison Counsel, In re Bard Implanted Port Catheter Products Liability Litigation, MDL 3081 (D. Ariz.) — appointed 2023 by Judge David G. Campbell. Arizona Supreme Court Alternative Business Structure Committee — appointed 2022, currently serving.
Legal Innovator
Founder of one of Arizona’s first Alternative Business Structure law firms after Arizona became the first state to eliminate rule 5.4’s ban on non-lawyer ownership — and one of ten committee members who decide which ABS firms are licensed statewide.
Notable Results
$12.3M confidential personal injury settlement · $6.5M disability bad-faith jury verdict · $6M bad-faith settlement · $6M and $5M birth-trauma settlements · $4.3M jury award, Clabough v. State of Arizona. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Quick Facts
Arizona & Ohio bar, 1993 · U.S. District Court (D. Ariz.) and 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; 1999 – The Ohio State University; 1992 · J.D. cum laude, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law · Own firm since 1999 · 100% of practice devoted to litigation · Speaks French.
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