Overview

As an attorney in the Litigation Department of Adler Pollock & Sheehan, Steve Nelson handles all types of civil litigation.  This includes complex commercial litigation, financial-services litigation, insurance defense, and other disputes.  Steve represents clients in state and federal courts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and state court in Connecticut, as well as in arbitrations.  Steve is particularly adept at assisting clients negotiate as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible the often time-consuming and expensive process of reviewing and producing electronically stored information in discovery.

Steve’s experience also includes viewing cases from the perspective of in-house counsel.  Based on his prior work for the client, Steve had a months-long temporary assignment in the in-house litigation department of one of the firm’s financial-services clients.

Prior to joining AP&S, Steve practiced at a business-litigation firm in Providence.  He also clerked for the Honorable Francis X. Flaherty of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and in the Rhode Island Superior Court Law Clerk Department,

Outside the office, Steve has been a part of multiple non-profit organizations, including as a member of the Kent Hospital Foundation Board.

Experience

  • Assisted in obtaining favorable results in litigation against state agencies and quasi-state agencies alleging constitutional violations.
  • Led efficient review of electronically stored information amounting to close to one million documents in case alleging constitutional violations.
  • Oversaw implementation of A.I.-based review tools to maximize efficiency in e-discovery in cases including employment litigation and breach-of-contract litigation.
  • Obtained dismissal of multiple, related cases against a bank employee alleged to have committed fraud related to a real-estate transaction.
  • Obtained dismissal on personal jurisdiction grounds of a case against a manufacturer alleged to have misrepresented its product.
  • Successfully defended manufacturer of packaging equipment in litigation arising out of a dispute over repairs to a machine.
  • Successfully defended a construction company and its employees against a preliminary injunction motion in litigation over non-competition agreements between the employees and their former employer.
  • Assisted in representing an executive in breach of fiduciary duty and theft of trade secrets litigation brought by her former employer.
  • Assisted in representing a boat construction company in multimillion-dollar arbitration brought by a customer and obtained favorable finding on nearly every claim.

Credentials

  • Roger Williams University School of Law (J.D., summa cum laude)
  • Tulane University (B.A.)

  • Rhode Island
  • Massachusetts
  • Connecticut
  • U.S. District Court, District of Rhode Island
  • U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
  • United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

  • Selected as Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, 2021 -2025 in the field of Commercial Litigation.
  • Named Rhode Island Rising Star 2016 -2018, 2020 – 2022, by the publishers of Super Lawyers
  • Articles Editor, Roger Williams University Law Review
  • Public Service Award, Roger Williams University School of Law

  • Member, Rhode Island Bar Association

  • Member, Board of Directors, Kent Hospital Foundation (2024-Present)
  • Member, Main Street Association of East Greenwich (President, 2015 – 2017); Secretary (2013 2014); Member (2007 – 2020)