Steven Lewis Rader joined The Ryan Firm in January of 2023: For over two-decades before joining The Ryan Firm, he successfully represented public agencies, businesses, and individuals before all courts, and courts of appeal, within Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, and San Diego Counties.  He has also personally advised CEO’s, Chiefs of Police, City Council Members, Union Officers, Entrepreneurs, Home Owners’ Association Boards, and Landlords, on a multitude contract, employment, real property, and legal compliance issues.  Mr. Rader brings a broad range of experience and legal knowledge to assist The Ryan Firm’s clients in achieving positive and practical outcomes.

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Working his way through college, driving a forklift at an automobile parts warehouse, Mr. Rader graduated in the top 10% of his class at the University of Utah.  He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with coursework emphasizing macro-monetary theory and statistics. His honors at graduation included election to the Golden Key and Phi Kappa Phi National Scholastic Honor Societies.

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At Emory Law School, in Atlanta, Georgia, Mr. Rader was ranked 14th in his class after First Semester grades.  He finished in the top 20% of his class, while serving as Managing Editor of the Bankruptcy Developments Journal. His article: “The Treatment of Workers’ Compensation Insurance Premiums in the Employer’s Bankruptcy, A Question of Priorities” was selected by the Journal’s editors for publication.  He earned honors grades in Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law, Church and State, and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

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Mr. Rader began his career as a PORAC Legal Defense Fund panel attorney representing public safety officers and firefighters throughout Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Ventura Counties. Highlights of this portion of his legal career would include: serving as the case managing attorney for a class action brought by the Los Angeles Police Protective League which ultimately settled for over $47 million; sitting second chair for a month-long federal civil rights trial brought by his client Sherriff’s Deputy Sergeant which resulted in a jury verdict of over $600,000, and obtaining judgments and settlement agreements awarding canine officers pay for their off-duty care and training of police dogs.

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Thereafter, Mr. Rader accepted a position with a downtown Los Angeles firm representing Cities and Counties in Los Angeles County.  While there, he obtained summary judgment on behalf of the City of Los Angeles on a reverse-discrimination class action challenging the Fire Department’s hiring practices under Title VII.  He filed a successful demurrer on behalf of the County of Los Angeles on a catastrophic injury claim based on premises liability, and he prevailed for the County on an appeal involving application of the Privette-Toland doctrine. During this tenure he also advised a City’s Chief of Police on day-to-day operational issues and drafted numerous municipal ordinances and contracts.

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Mr. Rader was then actively recruited to serve as the head of litigation for an Orange County firm representing homeowners’ associations throughout Southern California.  He was the lead attorney on scores of trials, arbitrations, and mediations.  He also advised his clients at board of directors’ meetings and drafted governing documents, operating rules, and contracts for the associations represented by the firm.  His representative clients at the time included: the Nellie Gail Ranch Owners’ Association, the Crystal Cove Community Association, and the Aliso Viejo Community Association.

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Mr. Rader’s work on behalf of homeowners’ associations brought him to the attention of the premiere public agency law firm in Orange County where he was offered a position as Senior Associate Attorney.  While there he successfully defended a City’s rent control ordinance for mobile home parks from a park owner’s legal challenge, obtained for another City quiet title to a dedicated public park, litigated and arbitrated a number of public works construction matters, and obtained summary judgment for a Sanitation District on a retirement benefit class action.  

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Thereafter, accepted the role as the Director of Firm Operations at the Centauri Law Group, P.C. In that role, he primarily provided quality control, assisting the firm’s attorneys to achieve their best work product, and stood as the client’s first point of contact to address all of their questions or concerns