Steptoe & Johnson LLP announced the arrivals of two new lawyers in the firm’s Phoenix office.
 
Kiefer, Joseph
Kiefer, Joseph

Joseph Kiefer is an attorney who focuses on trial litigation.  He represents large and small clients in insurance bad faith cases, commercial litigation, product liability, military law and criminal matters.  Mr. Kiefer has served as a third-party neutral in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) proceedings and has extensive experience in mediation, arbitration, and facilitation.  A colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Mr. Kiefer has served on active duty and in the reserves as a judge advocate since 1998.  He spent eight years as a prosecutor and defense counsel, eight years as a trial judge in the Air Force Trial Judiciary, and is currently an appellate judge on the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals.

Mr. Kiefer earned his J.D. from the William & Mary Law School, where he received the Gambrell Professionalism Award and Sponge Leadership Award, and was an editor of the Military Law Review.  He earned an MBA from Chaminade University and a B.S., with merit, in economics and political science from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Jason Porter is an associate who focuses on commercial and insurance litigation.  In addition, he has represented clients in appellate matters before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Arizona Courts of Appeals.  Mr. Porter clerked on the Arizona Court of Appeals for the Honorable Maurice Portley, and on the U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, for the Honorable G. Murray Snow.Porter, Jason - Phx - 300 DPI

Mr. Porter earned his law degree, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where he was a member of the Arizona State Law Journal and a Center Scholar in the College’s Center for the Study of Law, Science & Technology.  He earned the highest score on the July 2008 Arizona bar exam.  Prior to entering law school, Mr. Porter worked as an aerospace engineer.  He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Brigham Young University.