Richard M. Steingard has been practicing criminal defense for his entire career, now over 40 years. Mr. Steingard has tried over sixty cases to a jury, argued over twenty cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals in numerous jurisdictions, and appeared pro hac vice in matter throughout the United States. He represents individuals and corporations before regulatory agencies and state and federal courts.
Mr. Steingard began his career as an Orange County and Los Angeles County Public Defender, and later served as a Federal Public Defender. He then practiced federal criminal defense with boutique firms in Connecticut and New York before returning to Los Angeles where he had his own law firm for over fifteen years. In 2007, Mr. Steingard was asked to head the White Collar and Civil Fraud Defense Practice Group at the Los Angeles flagship office of Sheppard Mullin Richter and Hampton LLP, an international law firm with over 600 attorneys.
In 2010, Mr. Steingard left Sheppard Mullin to partner with his former law school professor, Michael J. Lightfoot. Mr. Lightfoot was long recognized as one of the “deans” of the California criminal defense community. They started their own firm, Lightfoot & Steingard, and were soon joined by another titan of the criminal defense bar, Stephen B. Sadowsky, to form Lightfoot, Steingard & Sadowsky. LSS focused exclusively on criminal and civil rights matters, maintaining Mr. Steingard’s singular interest and commitment to these areas of law.
With Messrs. Lightfoot and Sadowsky’s retirements in 2017, Mr. Steingard re-established his solo practice as the Law Offices of Richard M. Steingard. Once again, his focus is on criminal defense, particularly in federal courts.
In 2018, Mr. Steingard was named a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The ACTL is an invitation only fellowship of trial lawyers from the United States and Canada. ACTL is recognized as the preeminent organization of trial lawyers in North America, dedicated to maintaining and improving the standards of trial practice, professionalism, ethics, and the administration of justice. Mr. Steingard was asked to sit on ACTL’s “Problems in the Administration of Justice (U.S.)” Committee, where he has served for several years. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles and California criminal law organizations, and has lectured on a wide variety of criminal law topics, including the government’s use of electronic surveillance and wiretaps.