Steve has litigated matters in state and federal courts throughout California for over fifteen years. After starting his career at Klinedinst, PC, Steve worked as an associate at DLA Piper, where he represented clients in complex civil litigation matters. Since joining Benbrook Law Group in 2013, Steve has continued to represent businesses in civil and administrative disputes. Steve has co-authored over a dozen amicus briefs in the Supreme Court of the United States, and argued cases at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and in the California Courts of Appeal. In addition, Steve regularly represents individuals and groups in constitutional and public policy litigation, and advises political campaigns and committees and on election-law issues.
Steve received his law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Steve has been a Senior Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s California Constitution Center since 2012, where he has published scholarly articles and commentary focusing on state constitutional law. In addition to his professional work, Steve is a lecturer at UC Berkeley’s law school and an adjunct professor at University of Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law.
- Commercial Arbitration
- Business Litigation
- General Civil Litigation
- Administrative Disputes and Investigations
- Constitutional and Public Policy Litigation
- University of Notre Dame Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2007)
- University of California, Berkeley (B.A., 2003)
- State Bar of California
- Supreme Court of the United States
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- All federal district courts in California
- Super Lawyer (2023); Rising Star, Northern California Super Lawyers (2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
- Best of the Bar, Sacramento Business Journal (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019)
- Top Lawyers, Sacramento Magazine (2017, 2018, 2019)
- Federal Bar Association, Sacramento Chapter (Past President)
- Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, Sacramento Lawyers Chapter (President, Board of Directors)
- David A. Carrillo, Stephen M. Duvernay, Rodolfo E. Rivera Aquino & Brandon V. Stracener, California Constitutional Law: Privacy, 59 San Diego L. Rev. 119 (2022).
- David A. Carrillo, Stephen M. Duvernay, Benjamin Gevercer & Meghan Fenzel, California Constitutional Law: Direct Democracy, 92 S. Cal. L. Rev. 557 (2019).
- David A. Carrillo, Stephen M. Duvernay & Brandon V. Stracener, California Constitutional Law: Popular Sovereignty, 68 Hastings L.J. 731 (2017).
- David A. Carrillo and Stephen M. Duvernay, The California Judiciary, 7 Cal. J. Pol. & Pol’y, No. 4 (2015).
- David A. Carrillo and Stephen M. Duvernay, California Constitutional Law: The Guarantee Clause and California’s Republican Form of Government, 62 UCLA L. Rev. Disc. 104 (2014).
