John Steele is a solo practitioner, representing clients on matters of legal ethics, professional liability, risk management, fee disputes, and the law of lawyering. He is a certified specialist in the field of legal malpractice law (State Bar of California, Bd. Legal Spec.). For over fifteen years, he served as the top internal ethics lawyer at an AmLaw 100 firm (Fish & Richardson), where he was Special Counsel for Ethics, and at an AmLaw 200 firm (Fenwick & West), where he was a trial lawyer and litigation partner. He has taught professional responsibility for over forty semesters at UC-Berkeley School of Law, Stanford Law School, UC-Hastings School of Law (Adjunct Professor of Law), Indiana University – Maurer School of Law (Visiting Professor), Santa Clara University, and Golden Gate University. The Second Circuit cited and relied upon a law review article authored by Mr. Steele in a case of first impression on an important conflict of interest issue. (GSI Commerce Solutions v. BabyCenter, LLC, 618 F.3d 204 (2nd Cir. 2010)) He has served on a variety of professional committees, including the State Bar of California’s standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), was the Co-Chair of the Professional Responsibility committee of the ABA Section on Intellectual Property Law, and has served as an arbitrator in dozens of fee disputes. In 2013, he was named “Lawyer of the Year” for Northern California in the field of Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law (Best Lawyers). He speaks widely to professional audiences, including providing CLE credits, on issues of legal ethics and risk management, elimination of bias in the legal profession, substance abuse, and law practice management.
John J Steele is teaching the following course in Spring 2025:
• 210 sec. 002 - Legal Profession
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title |  Teaching Evaluations | Fall 2025 | 210 sec. 002 | Legal Profession | Summer 2025 | 210.1S sec. 001 | Legal Ethics in the Practice of Law | Fall 2024 | 210 sec. 002 | Legal Profession | View Teaching Evaluation | Spring 2024 | 210 sec. 002 | Legal Profession | View Teaching Evaluation |
|---|