Steven M. Wellner was appointed an Administrative Law Judge for the District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings in May 2006. Judge Wellner practiced law in the Washington office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP from 1985-1989 and from 1990-2006. He was a partner of the firm from 1993 until his appointment to OAH. From 1989-1990, Judge Wellner was a staff attorney in the Air Division of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of General Counsel.

At Kirkland & Ellis, Judge Wellner practiced environmental law. He advised businesses, trade associations and venture capital clients’ involved corporate transactions, and he counseled chemical industry trade associations on matters involving the regulation of toxic substances. 

From 1997-2006, Judge Wellner managed the pro bono legal services program for Kirkland & Ellis’s Washington office. He also represented individual pro bono clients in matters ranging from landlord-tenant and small claims disputes to nonprofit governance, administrative litigation, challenges to prison conditions and a death penalty appeal. Judge Wellner received the John Carroll Society Pro Bono Legal Service Award in 2004.

Prior to his appointment to OAH, Judge Wellner was a director and treasurer of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. He served as a director and officer of ALS Association–DC/MD/VA Chapter from 1999-2007 and was a member of the Anacostia Watershed Citizens Advisory Committee from 2004-2006.