Steve has a B.S. in Material Science and initially conducted research on irradiated reactor materials at Battelle Memorial Institute, authoring four published papers in that area. He did graduate work in metallurgical engineering and then went to law school where he received a Juris Doctorate. He worked in the patent and legal department of Battelle and then for the Battelle Development Corporation where he evaluated new technology for monetization by Battelle while serving in the Marine Corps reserve. He joined Finnegan, now the largest all-IP law firm in the world, as an attorney where he developed and litigated IP for large and small technology-based companies. He represented the successful Australian syndicate in IP matters in the 1983 America's Cup challenge, writing the US patent application on the famous "winged keel" and protected the then secret keel in state court. He did extensive work in high-performance materials, magnetic recording, ceramics, powder metallurgy, nanotechnology, advanced materials fabrication, reactive and passive armor, and advanced weapons and projectiles. He has lectured at Georgetown University McGeorge School of Business, and before various groups regarding intellectual property, design patent law, technology transfer, and the use of IP as the basis for starting a technology-based company. He was chair of the Patent, Trademark and Copyright section of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and the president of the Federal Circuit Bar Association. He is currently the principal consultant for Peterson Intellectual Property Consulting where he supports technology-based companies, solving IP problems with innovative business solutions. In one such project his resolution of a complex IP problem raised the value of his client company $400 million.