Ricky Steelman is a Partner at Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik L.L.P. Mr. Steelman’s practical, client-centered, and resolution-driven practice focuses on complex commercial disputes, including litigation connected to bankruptcy, restructuring, and insolvency. His extensive business litigation experience includes successful representation of individuals, Fortune 500 companies, creditors, debtors, hospitals, and emergency physician groups in state and federal courts, as well as private arbitrations, throughout all phases of the litigation process. This includes pre-litigation investigation and demands, the filing of a complaint, law and motion practice (such as drafting and filing demurrers, motions to dismiss, and motions for summary judgment), conducting and responding to discovery (including depositions and subpoenas), attending mediations and settlement conferences, and representing clients at trial and evidentiary hearings.
Mr. Steelman is also an experienced appellate attorney who has managed more than 85 appeals in the various appellate districts of the California Courts of Appeal, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He also has substantial bankruptcy experience in numerous bankruptcy matters, contested proceedings, and adversary proceedings. Specifically, he played a critical role in obtaining summary judgment (resulting in a published decision in favor of a Fortune 100 financial institution) where the bankruptcy court granted his plaintiff client’s request for substantive consolidation. That judgment forced seven non-debtor entities and three non-debtor individuals involved in a multi-million dollar mortgage-relief fraud scheme into the primary debtor-entity’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy and under the purview of the bankruptcy court. This resulted in better protections for vulnerable consumers and members of the community, as well as financial institutions and corporations.
Mr. Steelman also has significant class action defense work in federal court and substantive experience handling California probate proceedings, including trial. He first chaired a probate trial where he successfully challenged the executor’s final accounting of a probate estate and the executor’s request for extraordinary fees in connection with that estate. That probate decision after a multiple-day trial resulted in greater financial distributions to Mr. Steelman’s client, as well as several other non-profit organizations across the country.
Mr. Steelman is very proud to be a two-time Cooke Scholar after being selected for the 2002 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Scholarship and the 2006 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship – a rare and coveted accomplishment in today’s competitive world. He graduated magna cum laude from Pepperdine University with a B.A. in Political Science and a Music Minor in 2003. He graduated cum laude from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2009. He is licensed in all California state and federal courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, as well as the state of Colorado. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and its Appellate Courts and Litigation sections. He is honored to have been named nine times as a Southern California Super Lawyers “Rising Star.” Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Steelman worked more than 8.5 years at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP as a litigation, appellate, and class action associate. He also worked at Buchalter as special counsel, focusing on complex healthcare litigation relating to provider-payor disputes.