Steve Sanders concentrates his practice on appellate litigation and critical motions. He has been the principal or sole author of briefs and petitions to the US Supreme Court, three state supreme courts, five US Courts of Appeals, and various federal district courts. He has argued in the US Supreme Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, and the 7th and 8th circuits.
Steve's experience includes matters involving federal and appellate jurisdiction and procedure, the Anti-Injunction Act, academic freedom and the First Amendment rights of university faculty, federal civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, the federal telecommunications act, state constitutional law, leveraged leasing transactions, personal jurisdiction, obstruction of justice, choice of law in class actions, state sovereign immunity, federal common law and accountant liability under the Securities Exchange Act. He has represented clients headquartered in the United States, Italy and the Netherlands, including the American Association of University Professors, AT&T, BNSF Railway Co., KPMG, Philip Morris Capital Corporation and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression.
Steve joined Mayer Brown after clerking for the Hon. Terence T. Evans on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Before law school, he worked for 15 years in higher education administration at Indiana University as Assistant to the Chancellor and an Assistant Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. He has written for the Chronicle of Higher Education, the National Law Journal, Findlaw.com and other outlets, and has been recognized with a Leadership Award from Lambda Legal.