Steve is nationally recognized for his broad knowledge of investment regulation and structuring.
He is widely acknowledged as the preeminent authority on investment funds structured as business development companies (BDCs). Steve guides his clients in successfully navigating the intricate rules and regulations of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), especially the Investment Company Act of 1940. He and his team represent many of the nation’s largest BDCs, and he advises on a broad range of legal matters and transactions, including initial public offerings (IPOs).
Steve began his career at the SEC, serving in the Enforcement Division and on the Executive Staff, and that insider perspective and knowledge inform his work today. He advises clients on establishing and operating public and private open- and closed-end investment funds, and he also assists clients in developing structural alternatives for taking private equity investment opportunities to public investors. Steve is recognized as a leading authority on the organization and operation of Section 529 college tuition savings plans.
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- Represented various debt fund and real estate investment fund managers in connection with subscription credit facilities provided by US financial institutions.
- Represented a debt fund manager in connection with warehouse credit facilities provided by a U.S. financial institution to various of its private funds totaling approximately $1 billion.
- Represented numerous BDCs before the SEC in exemptive relief matters.
- Represented Golub Capital BDC, Inc., a business development company, in an underwritten public offering of $400 million in aggregate principal amount of investment grade unsecured notes.
- Serves as counsel to the Independent Directors of several Business Development Companies.
- 2025 BDC Roundtable, October 7-8, 2025
- BDCs in 2023: Gearing Up for the Year Ahead, December 13, 2022
- Podcast: Quick Call: BDC Industry Update, November 17, 2016
- Recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the area of mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds (2022-2025); financial services: regulation (2022); financial services regulation: broker-dealers (2023) and capital markets: equity offerings (2015-2019)
- Recognized as “Lawyer of the Year” by The Best Lawyers in America in the area of private funds/hedge funds law (2016, 2018, 2022) and in the area of securities regulation (2020)
- Named to Best Lawyers in the areas of corporate law (2005-2026), mutual funds law (2005-2026), private funds law (2005-2014), securities law (2005-2011), private funds/hedge funds (2012-2026), securities/capital markets law (2012-2026), and securities regulation (2012-2026)
- Recognized by Chambers Global: World’s Leading Lawyers in the area of investment funds - registered funds (2020-2026)
- Recognized by Chambers USA: Guide to Leading Business Lawyers in the area of investment funds – registered funds (since 2008)
- Selected for inclusion in Washington, DC, Super Lawyers® (2007-2016, 2018-2019)
- Recognized by Expert Guides in the area of investment funds (2016)
- Named among Washington’s “Top 10 Dealmakers” by Legal Times magazine (2006)
- District of Columbia
- B.A., cum laude, Rutgers College,
Phi Beta Kappa
- J.D., Rutgers University Law School,
Phillip J. Levin Scholar