ST. LOUIS — A former assistant U.S. attorney who made global headlines is joining a law firm with a worldwide reach.
Cristian Stevens will join Armstrong Teasdale as a litigation partner for its St. Louis office. Armstrong Teasdale is a global law firm with offices across the United States and in China.
Stevens is best known for his time as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, where he led the federal investigation into the Aug. 9, 2014, officer-involved shooting of Micheal Brown in Ferguson.
Stevens earned his bachelor's degree in political science and Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Missouri Law Review. He followed his time in law school by serving as a clerk for Pasco M. Bowman II during Bowman's tenure as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Over the course of his career, he has developed experience helping clients through almost every phase of the litigation process, including investigation, discovery, pretrial hearings, trial and direct appeal. And in his time working in appellate practice, he developed sophisticated post-trial strategies for his clients, according to a press release from Armstrong Teasdale.
“Cris is a skilled trial and appellate lawyer and will certainly build on the strong team of litigators we have in place at the firm, " Matt Reh, partner and litigation practice group leader at Armstrong Teasdale, told the St Louis Record. "Litigation is our largest practice group at Armstrong Teasdale, and we’re proud to have an assistant U.S. attorney join us. He has a significant amount of experience with internal investigations and will take on a lead role for many of those matters. His background really complements the work our attorneys are already doing in St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver and all of our offices."
Reh said that Stevens' experience with internal investigations will lend itself well to the types of business litigation, complex commercial litigation and white-collar crimes cases that the firm handles.
“Cris really enjoys being in court and going to trial,” he said. “So he will definitely take on cases that enable him to do that and practice in an area where we know he has significant strength.”
Steven's more than a decade of experience serving as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri where he prosecuted federal violent crimes such as homicides, narcotics, white-collar and civil rights violations from the earliest stages of investigation through the appeals process made him particularly attractive to the firm, Reh said.
“Cris’ interests are well-aligned with the firm’s interests and because of his understanding of both sides of the spectrum – working with government and working within private practice – we knew he would be a strong candidate,” he said. “We’re excited about the well-rounded and robust experience he brings to the firm. He’s litigated cases at both the state and federal levels and has received a number of awards that demonstrate his talent and level of ability.”