Steven B. Pfeiffer

Of Counsel
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP

Washington, DC
United States
T:+1 202 662 4585
Washington, DC
United States
T:+1 202 662 4585
Steven B. Pfeiffer

Steven B. Pfeiffer

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Biography

Steve Pfeiffer, Of Counsel, practices in the Washington, D.C., office and began a second four-year term as Chair of the Executive Committee in January 2007. He previously served as the Partner-in-Charge of the Washington, D.C., and London offices and as the head of the International Department. Before joining the Washington office in 1986, he resided in the London office. He went to London as an associate in 1979 after two and a half years in the Houston office.

While he was in London for over seven years, Mr. Pfeiffer had principal responsibility for a wide variety of corporate and commercial transactions involving United Kingdom, European, Middle East and Africa-based banks, corporations and individuals investing in the United States. His practice often involved representation of U.K. financial institutions raising capital for U.S. investments, particularly in the energy industry.

Mr. Pfeiffer has also been the partner responsible for the advice given to US clients acquiring stock or assets, or entering joint venture or other contractual relationships, in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. These projects involved coordinating the US and non-US corporate, commercial, securities, tax and other legal and regulatory issues affecting such transactions. Mr. Pfeiffer also has had responsibility for the representation of certain sovereign entities, including departments of the UK government and sovereign states in Africa.

Professional experience

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Mr. Pfeiffer received a BA from Wesleyan University in 1969. He then studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, completing a BA and MA in Jurisprudence at Oxford and MA in Area Studies (Africa) at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. During this time, he traveled widely in Europe, the Middle East and Africa on a Thomas J. Watson Foundation Travel Fellowship for which he was selected in 1969. Mr. Pfeiffer returned to the United States for active service as an officer in the United States Navy in 1972 and served as Assistant CINCEUR and NATO Plans Officer in the Strategic Plans and Policy Division of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and, later, as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. He retired from the United States Naval Reserve as a Commander in 1991. Mr. Pfeiffer earned a JD in 1976 from Yale University and was admitted to practice in New Jersey in 1976 and in the District of Columbia in 1978.

  • District of Columbia Bar

Mr. Pfeiffer was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors' Directorship 100. His other recent accolades include:

  • The Best Lawyers in America, Banking and Finance Law, Best Lawyers, 2022 – 2024
  • The Best Lawyers in America, International Trade and Finance Law, Best Lawyers, 2006 – 2025
  • The Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyers, 2006 – 2021
  • Who's Who Legal, energy, Law Business Research Ltd., 2014 – 2016
  • Who's Who Legal, oil and Gas, Law Business Research Ltd., 2012        
  • Washington DC & Baltimore Top Rated Lawyer, business and commercial, LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, 2012 – 2013
  • The International Who's Who of Energy, Who's Who Legal, 2013
  • "Lawdragon 500" – Corporate practice, 2011
  • Recognized Lawyer, Energy and Natural Resources, Expert Guides, 2013 – 2017, 2020
  • "Washington DC Super Lawyer," Business/Corporate, Thomson Reuters, 2013

From 1992 to 1994, Mr. Pfeiffer was chairman of the Section on Energy and Natural Resources Law of the International Bar Association, the largest international group of lawyers in private and corporate practice. He served as senior vice chairman of the Section from 1990 to 1992. In 1976, Mr. Pfeiffer was elected by the alumni of Wesleyan University in Connecticut to serve as a member of its Board of Trustees and served as Chairman of the Board from 1987 to 1992. He is currently Chairman Emeritus of Wesleyan. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. Mr. Pfeiffer was Secretary to the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee for Maryland/DC from 1993 to 2001 and served on the Selection Committee for the state of Montana from 2002 to 2004. He serves as a director of Barloworld Limited (a publicly owned company based in South Africa) and Iridium Communications Inc. (a publicly owned company based in the Washington, D.C. area). Mr. Pfeiffer is also a trustee of The Africa-America Institute in New York and a director of Project HOPE in Washington, D.C. and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., all non-profit organizations. He is a member of the State Bar of New Jersey, the District of Columbia Bar and the American Bar Association.