A natural collaborator and communicator, Steve Herst is a corporate and government services attorney known for resolving complex matters involving unclaimed property and escheat issues, as well as transactional, regulatory, legislative, and litigation matters for private-sector and governmental clients. Steve has a detailed and practical understanding of such issues and a reputation as a problem solver.
Steve enjoys explaining arcane unclaimed property law, regulations, and theory to clients in plain English. For nearly a decade, he has been instrumental in deciphering abandoned property/escheat matters involving Delaware and more than 25 other states, providing legal counsel to businesses and states to resolve even the most complex issues –as a regulator and in private practice.
He has been fortunate to be at the forefront of this work, among the few attorneys nationwide with as much practical experience.
Steve has resolved hundreds of unclaimed property audits and voluntary disclosures involving manufacturers, retailers, and oil and gas companies. Steve has a dedicated focus regarding securities-related unclaimed property issues involving broker-dealers, investment banks, mutual fund companies, and securities issuers.
Unlike his golf game, when it comes to abandoned or unclaimed property issues, Steve is on point. Knowing the wind direction or the location of sand traps and water hazards is key to selecting the right golf club – similarly, Steve anticipates his clients’ needs and carves out strategies to achieve the best results. His goal is to curb clients’ concerns by understanding their worries and expectations, asking questions, explaining the applicable laws, and assisting them in a resolution.
In addition to his unclaimed property work, Steve has represented startup, early-stage, and emerging growth companies, litigated complex commercial matters in Delaware’s state and federal courts, advised clients regarding administrative and legislative matters, and assisted real estate developers with zoning and land use issues.
Before joining the firm, Steve was a principal and attorney with Specialty Audit Services (SAS), a third-party unclaimed property auditor that worked with unclaimed property regulators in more than 25 states. In this role, he was deeply involved with hundreds of unclaimed property examinations, serving as a strategic and legal adviser for virtually all matters arising in the examinations. Before SAS, Steve practiced law at Drinker Biddle & Reath, helping to administer Delaware’s unclaimed property Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA) program.
Steve’s early experience included a clerkship for the Hon. Judge Richard R. Cooch in the Delaware Superior Court, an externship for the Hon. Judge Leonard P. Stark in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, and as a body man for U.S. Sen. Thomas R. Carper of Delaware.
Outside of work, Steve enjoys spending time with his family and dreams that his toddler son will lose fewer golf balls than his father.
