Steven B. Sacks

Steven Sacks is a partner in the Business Trial and Finance and Bankruptcy Practice Groups in the firm's San Francisco office. His areas of emphasis are commercial litigation, creditors' rights and bankruptcy.

Areas of Practice

Mr. Sacks is an experienced business trial lawyer with expertise in products liability, insurance coverage disputes, officer and director liability, creditors' rights issues, and breach of contract disputes. Recently, he successfully tried two cases to verdict before juries and received a favorable decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversing a judgment of over $5 million. In addition to his trial and appellate skills, Mr. Sacks has also resolved many cases through arbitration, appraisal and mediation proceedings.

Mr. Sacks has also handled the full panoply of issues that arise in bankruptcy cases as counsel for creditors' committees, Chapter 11 trustees, lenders, lessors and trade creditors. He was a member of the Creditors' Committee trial teams that confirmed plans of reorganization in In re Western Asbestos Co., in which over $2 billion was obtained for asbestos claimants, and in In re J.T. Thorpe, Inc. In recent years he has litigated in the state, federal district, and bankruptcy courts actions involving alleged breach of fiduciary duties by corporate directors, fraudulent conveyances, complex lease disputes, usury claims, and accounting malpractice issues, as well as claims arising from representations and warranties in a business sale, among others.

Education

• J.D., University of California at Davis, 1980, Order of the Coif
• B.A., University of California at Santa Cruz, 1975, with honors

Admissions

• California, 1981
• Alaska, 1981

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP, San Francisco, Partner (2001-present)

Perkins Coie LLP, San Francisco
Partner (1998-2001)

Hosie, Wes, Sacks & Brelsford, LLP, San Francisco
Partner (1990-1998)

Manwell & Wes, San Francisco
Partner (1988-1990)

Memberships

• Member, State Bar Litigation Section Executive Committee and Committee on Jury Instructions
• Member, Association of Business Trial Lawyers
• Member, American Bankruptcy Institute
• Member, Board of Directors, The CompuMentor Project (and President, 1998-2001)