Woolston, Robert (Rob)G.

STEVEN LEZELL WOODROW chairs the firm's Banking and Financial Services Practice Group. Steve focuses his practice on complex nationwide class actions against some of the Country's largest banking associations and financial institutions. Representative matters include cases against national lenders and mortgage servicers arising out of HAMP loan modification abuses, as well as lawsuits challenging the legality of home equity line of credit (“HELOC”) account suspension and reduction practices of Wells Fargo, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America, among others.

Steve served as Counsel of Record and delivered the winning oral argument in the landmark appellate decision of Wigod v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., (7th Cir. 2012), the first federal appellate Court opinion to decide the rights of borrowers under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”). The decision, which reversed the district court, found that borrowers may allege state law claims for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and fraud in response to loan modification abuses by servicers.

Steve has been appointed Class Counsel in several matters, including:

• Schulken v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. 5:09-cv-02708-LHK (N.D. Cal.)
• Hamilton et al. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 4:09-cv-04152-CW (N.D. Cal.)
• Ducharme v. Lexington Law Firm et al., 3:10-cv-02763-CRB (N.D. Cal.)
• Vanover v. Helio LLC, BC414842 (L.A. Cnty. Sup. Crt.)

Steve has also been appointed as class counsel in nationwide class action settlements against cellphone companies, aggregators, and mobile content providers related to unauthorized charges for ringtones and other mobile content, including Paluzzi v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless and mBlox, Inc., No. 07 CH 37213 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cnty); Williams et. al. v. Motricity, Inc., No. 09 CH 19089 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cnty), and Walker et. al. v. OpenMarket Inc. et. al., No. 08 CH 40592 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cnty).

Steve has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law where he co-taught a seminar on class actions. Prior to joining the firm, Steve was a litigator at a Chicago boutique where he tried, arbitrated, and prosecuted an array of consumer protection matters and real estate disputes.

Steve received his J.D., High Honors, from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2005 and was selected to the Order of the Coif. During law school, Steve served as a Judicial Extern for the Honorable Ann C. Williams on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and as a Notes and Comments Editor for The Chicago-Kent Law Review. Steve also competed as a member of Moot Court, representing Chicago-Kent at the National Sports Law Moot Court Competition in New Orleans in 2004. Steve additionally served as President of the Student Bar Association. Chicago-Kent awarded him the ALI-ABA Scholarship and Leadership Award for best representing the combination of leadership and scholarship in his graduating class. He also received the Lowell H. Jacobson Memorial Scholarship, which is awarded competitively each year to a student from one of the law schools in the Seventh Circuit to recognize personal commitment and achievement.

Steve is admitted to practice in Colorado (2011) and Illinois (2005).

He received his B.A. in Political Science, with Distinction, from the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor in 2002.