Steven Kaufmann has more than 25 years of experience guiding his clients through their most difficult, high-stakes litigation. He has extensive commercial litigation, government enforcement, and trial experience, handling disputes and investigations in a range of industries including financial services, telecommunications, energy, real estate, logistics, and health care. He also has a strong background in class action defense in the financial services, securities, and antitrust areas.
Mr. Kaufmann is the former chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Litigation Department. He is also a former managing partner and head of litigation in its Denver office and a former chair of the firm’s Consumer Litigation and Class Action Practice Group.
In 2010, Mr. Kaufmann was appointed by President Obama to serve as the chief of staff at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent U.S. government development agency created to reduce poverty through long-term investments in impoverished countries. MCC has an annual operating budget of $1 billion and makes significant investments in African, Asian, and Latin American nations designed to eliminate obstacles to economic growth, including transportation and energy solutions. Mr. Kaufmann rejoined Morrison & Foerster in 2014.
In addition to his work in U.S. commercial litigation, class actions, and regulatory disputes, Mr. Kaufmann’s practice also focuses on representing investors as they navigate through the legal and regulatory issues associated with doing business in emerging and frontier markets.
Mr. Kaufmann serves on the board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He is the former board chair of both the Colorado Lawyers Committee and the Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation.
Mr. Kaufmann was named Colorado’s Top Lawyer in the area of management and litigation by Law Week Colorado and Best Lawyers in America listed him as a leader in the fields of antitrust and commercial litigation.
Mr. Kaufmann received his B.A. degree summa cum laude from Wesleyan University in 1980 and his J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan in 1984, where he was a member of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. He is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Before law school, Mr. Kaufmann worked for the Washington, D.C. consulting firm ICF, Inc., where he undertook economic analyses of energy markets and related environmental issues. Mr. Kaufmann served as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge John L. Kane, Jr.
Steven Kaufmann is recommended as a leading lawyer by Best Lawyers In America 2010, Benchmark Litigation 2010 and Super Lawyers 2006-2010. Mr. Kaufmann was also featured by Law Week Colorado as one of its ‘Lawyers of the Year’ for 2008.
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