Spegal, Karen L.

Since his days as a college student, Steve Baughman Jensen has always been concerned about the systematic destruction of the environment by domineering corporate interests. During his first year of law school, "I read a case involving a chemical spill on the Mississippi River and its impact on local fishermen, tourism, and residents of the area. I was fascinated by the possibility of using private litigation as a means to securing environmental justice." After a year-long position as a briefing attorney for then-Texas Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Doggett, Steve has devoted his career to toxic tort litigation.

With over fifteen years of practice, Steve has attained many accomplishments. In 2006, he was awarded the "Trial Lawyers of the Year" award by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) for resolving a 21-year-long case on behalf of over 1,600 residents of Tucson, Arizona who were injured by contaminated drinking water. Steve has worked on a wide variety of toxic injury cases involving such substances as asbestos, trichloroethlyne (TCE), lead, radiation, beryllium, benzene, mercury, arsenic, and dioxins.

Steve is also well-known for his work in successfully fighting several proposed nationwide class action settlements that attempted to resolve "future" asbestos claims; that is, claims that might someday be brought by people exposed to asbestos but not yet sick as a result. The United States Supreme Court twice overturned such settlements in the cases of Amchem v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591 (1997) and Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corp., 527 U.S. 815 (1999).

Steve has also fought against class action abuses in other cases. In 1997, he received the Public Justice Achievement Award from Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for his successful efforts in opposing a collusive class action involving insurance fraud in Mississippi. Steve also worked on a case opposing a nationwide class action settlement initiated by the tobacco corporation Liggett, which would have capped that company's future tobacco liabilities. For his many professional accomplishments, Steve has been recognized by D Magazine on its list of "Best Lawyers Under 40 in Dallas" (2004) and has been named a "Texas Super Lawyer" by Law & Politics Media and Texas Monthly magazine in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Steve is a past chair of the American Association for Justice Section on Toxic, Environmental, and Pharmaceutical Torts and a current board member of TLPJ. Additionally, he devotes his time to litigating many cases pro bono as a TLPJ cooperating attorney.