Experience in Field:  27 years

Years in presenting: 8

Organization: Stephen D. Altman, PLLC

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Steve Altman is an attorney with over twenty years of senior-level experience in complex civil litigation, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), management, and training. An expert negotiator and mediator, he has resolved multi-million dollar government-commercial disputes and diverse civil conflicts. His background includes work with government agencies, commercial enterprises, and non-profit organizations; he has a special expertise in the False Claims Act and in mediation and training for non-profits.  Steve is an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown Law Center and also is a skilled trainer, lecturer, and group facilitator. His management experience ranges from project planning to operations and assessment.

In 2003, he retired from 27 years of service at the US Department of Justice to open his own practice to provide dispute resolution services including mediation, arbitration, consultation, and teaching and to advise people involved in disputes with the government, including all aspects of False Claims Act.

Experience - From 1983 until 2003, Steve served as Assistant Director in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division.  Steve supervised litigation and resolved major federal-corporate conflicts arising from procurement, subsidies, loans, contracts, and fraud.  In this capacity, he oversaw the work of more than 30 lawyers.  With the additional responsibility for hiring, training, and evaluating performance, he also managed a professional support staff of paralegals, auditors, and investigators.  During this time, he served as a consultant and teacher to government attorneys on the False Claims Act, ADR and negotiations.

ADR - Steve chaired the committee that wrote the Civil Division’s ADR Policy, and he helped create the ADR training course for the Department of Justice.   Steve has served as a mediator for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and for the DC Superior Court’s Multidoor Program since its inception in 1990. He also assists in selecting and training other mediators for the DC program.  He also mediates for the US Court of Appeals for DC and is certified to mediate for the Md. Circuit Court for Montgomery County. He also serves as an arbitrator for the National Assoc. of Securities Dealers. He has resolved hundreds of cases covering a broad range of issues including contract and other business-related matters, personal injury, landlord/tenant, non-profit, and workplace disputes. His mediation success is, in part, based on working with attorneys before any formal meetings to design a process best suited to fit the parties and the dispute, as well as his ability to have the parties stick with the process until they understand and can assess their settlement options.

Teaching - Steve has been an invited speaker at many educational forums including programs sponsored by the American Bar Association, DC Bar Association, DC Superior Court, Executive Office of US Attorneys, and the American Conference Institute.  He teaches a continuing legal education class in negotiations for the DC Bar as well as for private firms.  For the past eight years, Steve has been an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches negotiation, including components on arbitration and mediation.  As an advisor to the student ADR Society and coach of the school’s interscholastic negotiation team, Steve has helped students win regional, national, and international competitions.

Other experience - Prior to working for the Department of Justice, he served in the Air Force and as an attorney for the Civil Service Commission.  Steve graduated from Duke University and received his JD from the Syracuse College of Law. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution, the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, and the DC Bar.  His community activities include President Emeritus of the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, a board member of the Northwest Neighbors Village, and an active volunteer in the Everybody Wins mentoring program.