Steven Engel > Dechert LLP > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile
Dechert LLP Offices
35 West Wacker Drive
Suite 3400
CHICAGO, IL 60601-1608
ILLINOIS
United States
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Steven Engel
Work Department
Litigation
Position
Partner
Career
In a career spanning both private and public practice, Steven A. Engel is a leading litigator and counselor, acting as an advocate in high-profile trial and appellate matters and advising clients on their most sensitive and complex legal issues. Mr. Engel has appeared in courts across the country, handling a wide range of civil litigation matters, including administrative law, commercial litigation, constitutional law and securities cases. He also regularly counsels clients in connection with government, congressional and internal investigations.
Until recently, Mr. Engel served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. As the head of the office, Mr. Engel served as the chief counsel to the Attorney General and the principal legal adviser to the Executive Branch, providing legal advice to the President and cabinet secretaries on the most critical constitutional and statutory questions, including matters pertaining to national security, administrative law, criminal law, congressional oversight, and executive orders. In December 2020, Mr. Engel was awarded the Department of Justice’s highest honor, the Edmund J. Randolph Award, for outstanding service to the Department.
Before his appointment as Assistant Attorney General in 2017, Mr. Engel had been a partner at Dechert since 2009 and previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. Mr. Engel clerked on the U.S. Supreme Court for Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for Judge Alex Kozinski.
Education
- Yale Law School, J.D., 2000, Essays Editor of the Yale Law Journal, recipient of the Benjamin N. Cardozo Prize for the best brief submitted in Moot Court, the Israel H. Peres Prize for the most outstanding note in the Yale Law Journal, the Thurman Arnold Appellate Competition Prize, and the William K.S. Wang Prize for top performance in introductory corporate law
- University of Cambridge, M.Phil., 1997
- Harvard College, A.B., 1996, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship, funding graduate study in England
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
(Firms to watch)Dechert LLP’s appellate practice has gone from strength to strength under former Assistant Attorney General and department co-head Steven Engel. The team added a raft of new clients during 2022/23, including a group of US senators.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices
- Real estate > Real estate finance
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > E-discovery
- Finance > Fintech
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Dispute resolution > International litigation
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- International trade and national security > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Tax > International tax
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation