Alumni Spotlight: Steve Halpin ’15L Steve Halpin is senior counsel in the New York City office of King & Ruiz LLP and a member of the W&L Law Council.

Steve Halpin ’15L

Stephen (Steve) Halpin ‘15L is senior counsel in the New York City office of King & Ruiz LLP, a litigation boutique focused on domestic and cross-border disputes. His practice spans complex commercial litigation, asset recovery, international judgment enforcement, securities litigation, and white-collar criminal defense. Steve also regularly represents clients in appeals across various subject matters, including as a member of the Second Circuit’s Pro Bono Panel.

During law school, Steve led the Law Review as its Editor in Chief, interned for two federal district court judges, worked as a research assistant to the Director of the Frances Lewis Law Center, and served on the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series Board. Following law school, Steve clerked for the Honorable Robert B. King of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and then spent five years practicing in the Washington, D.C. office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP before moving to New York City.

Discuss your career path and how it led you to King & Ruiz LLP?

My career path has not been linear. After clerking for a judge after graduation, I spent five years working with the International Trade Group at a big firm in Washington, D.C., where I had previously worked as a paralegal. I learned many valuable lessons from my colleagues there, including the importance of responsiveness to clients and what top-notch, high-quality attorney work product looks like. I also saw immediately how my time clerking benefited me upon entering private practice.

But after five years at a big firm, I wanted a little more variety in my practice and more substantive responsibility on cases, including the opportunity to be on my feet more. In the summer of 2021, as the world was still emerging from the pandemic, my wife and I moved to New York City for her to start business school. I didn’t know many people in New York when we moved, but I was lucky to join a litigation boutique where I gained great experience writing dispositive motions and briefs, interacting with clients directly, and appearing in court. After spending three-and-a-half years there, I received an opportunity I could not pass up to join the then-newly formed King & Ruiz LLP, where I have continued to contribute my skills as a researcher and brief writer while also taking on more substantive responsibility for running matters and helping grow the firm.

The key attributes I believe have served me well throughout—from clerking, to Big Law, to practicing in a litigation boutique—are enthusiasm, attention to detail, and a willingness to work hard. I was fortunate to do well in law school and receive some of the shiny accolades associated with that success, but I also think a lot about what one of the judges I worked for told me when I was interviewing for a position: “I need work horses, not show horses.” There is no substitute for hard work.

What sort of legal issues do you handle on a day-to-day basis?

The legal issues I encounter run the gamut, which is one of the main reasons I enjoy being a lawyer. In the last year I’ve argued in federal district court in Manhattan, federal appellate court in New Orleans, and I’m regularly involved in proceedings in federal court in Miami on various cases. Our firm has particular experience in proceedings where clients are seeking or resisting discovery in the United States for use in foreign proceedings. These matters often arise under two distinct sets of federal statutes—28 U.S.C. § 1782 and Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code—but we handle all kinds of business disputes, from complex commercial litigation to white-collar criminal defense.

What do you like about your current job?

There are many things! Throughout my life I have tended to thrive in smaller environments, which is one reason I enjoyed my time at W&L so much. As a litigation boutique, we work hard and handle sophisticated, high-stakes matters, but we also carve out time for our families and hobbies outside our legal practice.

What are some practices you have in your daily life as an attorney to maintain wellness?

Physical activity and mindfulness are the two most important things for all of us to practice (and especially busy attorneys). I generally have more success with the former in that I try to stay active and exercise multiple times a week. I know and appreciate the benefits of the latter, such as meditation, and I aspire to carve out more time for it.

What has your experience been as a member of the W&L Law Council?

My experience has been very rewarding. The Law Council brings together alumni of all backgrounds who care deeply about the Law School and its continued success. We meet in person twice a year and hear directly from the Dean, administrators, faculty, and students about the Law School’s achievements, as well as its challenges. Members of the Law Council bring varying perspectives to our discussions, but we all are driven by a shared mission to ensure the Law School remains well positioned to meet the needs of our prospective students, current students, and alumni.

Looking back, what do you think was the most formative experience you had in law school?

One experience from my first year comes immediately to mind: It involved the first draft of the “open” memorandum (i.e., outside research permitted) I wrote partway through my first semester in the Legal Writing component of my Contracts class, taught by the legendary Sam Calhoun. As I recall, my first draft was well written, grammatically correct, and made sense logically.

But I had failed to consider looking to a neighboring jurisdiction for persuasive authority on the central legal question, which the jurisdiction we were in clearly had not answered. As pretty (or not) as my writing may have been, I had not provided good enough, actionable advice to the hypothetical client, and my tentative grade for the draft—everyone had the chance to improve their grade for the final memorandum after meeting with Professor Calhoun—reflected as much.

Professor Calhoun’s one-on-one, constructive feedback on my first draft lit a fire under me that propelled me forward through the final draft of that memorandum and onward in my law school experience.

Which W&L classes and/or experiences do you think were most helpful in preparing you for this job? 

As my practice has shifted more towards civil business litigation and asset recovery in the last few years, I am constantly applying concepts I first encountered in Civil Procedure, Contracts, and what used to be called Close Business Arrangements. Because a lot of our work is cross-border in nature and/or involves multiple jurisdictions in the United States, I also frequently draw on principles from my Conflict of Laws class to analyze what substantive law could or should apply to particular issues in a dispute.

What advice do you have for prospective law students?

For prospective law students, two things:

First, do not let law school compromise your physical or mental health. Law school is demanding, but you must make time for things that recharge you, and there are plenty of ways to do that around Lexington and with the incredible people who are part of the community.

Second, if you want to enter the private practice of law after graduation, whether as a litigator or corporate attorney, try to remember every now and then when you are decrypting 19th century cases about “craving oyer” that the practice of law is a business, and the business is to serve clients. W&L’s experiential offerings provide great opportunities to work with real clients as you progress into your second and third years; you should also begin cultivating an understanding of the economics of practicing law and how they are changing.

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