NACDL - National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Steven P. Ragland
Board of Directors, Director, First Term, Class of 2027
May 16, 2025
Steven Ragland is an experienced first-chair trial lawyer, leading teams on cases involving significant financial and reputational stakes. While particularly recognized for his proficiency in trade secret misappropriation law, cryptocurrency matters, real estate development disputes, professional responsibility and criminal defense, he has handled a wide range of cases for a diverse roster of clients. Those clients include TSMC, Western Digital, Coinbase, Xapo, Ribbit Capital, Google, GoFundMe, Genentech and Molina Healthcare.
He also proudly represents individuals, partnerships, and closely-held corporations, particularly in tech start-up spaces. Whether the case involves advanced semiconductors, emerging legal issues, or heated personal dynamics, Steven distills the dispute to its fundamentals so that judges, juries, and arbitrators can understand the issues and appreciate why they should side with his clients. He eschews cookie-cutter approaches to litigation and is relentlessly focused on achieving his clients’ objectives and goals. Clients praise his “extremely thoughtful” approach to litigation, his “effective, concise, and persuasive” communication, willingness to “take hard positions,” and ability to “swim against strong currents on behalf of clients.”
As one client summed up, “If I’m ever in a foxhole during wartime, I want him there with me.” Steven's significant trial experience includes helping secure a complete defense victory for Google in Oracle v. Google—a case in which Oracle claimed billions of dollars in damages for use of parts of the Java programming language in Google’s Android smartphone platform; prevailing on all legal and factual grounds in a nearly $100 million damages claim from a former executive of one of the nation’s largest wine producers; representing a high-ranking company official in one of the nation’s first criminal stock options backdating cases to go to trial; and obtaining a multimillion dollar award for one of the world's largest law firms.
He has also prevailed in numerous cases pre-trial—whether by prevailing on contested motions, securing a sweeping preliminary injunction, or simply convincing the other side to walk-away when the writing of their defeat was clearly on the wall. He has successfully litigated appeals in the California Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court of California, numerous Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the United States Supreme Court. Steven has also represented individuals and companies before investigative agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Inspector General, State Attorneys General, United States Attorney’s Offices, Cal-OSHA, and District Attorney enforcement units.
Steven is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for commercial litigation, has been recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer every year for the last decade, received the Benchmark Litigation Star accolade on multiple occasions, and was named a California Lawyer of the Year for Intellectual Property litigation in 2017.
