Dale Stephenson is a partner resident in the Cleveland office of Squire Sanders. For more than 15 years, he has handled projects throughout the Middle East region and has a wide range of experience in international institutional development and complex regulatory matters, with particular expertise in the field of environmental law, and international dispute resolution (IDR) proceedings. He has represented foreign governments, including the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, in helping create new federal environmental authorities and drafting comprehensive national environmental laws and regulations. He also has assisted in the training of governmental officials and other interested parties with respect to international law, government restructuring and regulatory development issues.

Representative Middle East projects include defending a large Saudi Arabian company in an IDR proceeding before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the creation of Bank Al-Bilad, a US$800 million capitalization project involving a 50-percent initial public offering (IPO) that attracted the highest investor participation ever experienced in Saudi Arabia (more than half of the entire local population). In the public sector, Dale has counseled the Saudi Arabian government regarding design of legal structure and systems for 178 new municipal councils and the first public elections in that country. He also has represented the government of Bahrain in reforming its labor and immigration laws, as well as bidding consortia seeking the award of telecommunications licenses in Saudi Arabia. Other projects in the Middle East region include a variety of corporate, regulatory and dispute resolution matters.

Beyond his international focus, Dale is also experienced in all aspects of US environmental law including state and federal litigation, corporate and governmental counseling, administrative law practice before state and federal agencies, and the general development and enhancement of corporate environmental, safety and health programs. He has particular expertise in the chemical regulatory area including laws governing production and manufacturing operations as well as treatment, storage and disposal facilities. Dale’s litigation experience includes a variety of matters involving air, water, hazardous substances, noise and general environmental impacts. He is experienced in negotiating contracts, consent decrees, permits and variances as well as corporate counseling on compliance with laws and regulations governing air pollution sources, wastewater discharges and the production, treatment, storage, transportation and disposal of chemicals and hazardous wastes. 

Dale was trial and appellate counsel in the landmark environmental case, Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Aviall Services, Inc., 543 U.S. 157 (2004), resulting in a precedent-setting US Supreme Court victory on the fundamental issue of whether Superfund contribution claims can be brought by private parties who have not been subject to governmental enforcement or other legal compulsion. He also was lead trial counsel successfully defending a major Superfund case that went through a complete seven-week federal court trial resulting in a “zero allocation” defense verdict. Ninth Avenue Remedial Group v. Allis-Chalmers, et al., and White Consolidated Industries, Inc., 53 ERC 2101 (N.D. Ind. 2001).

Dale is a member of the American Bar Association’s International Law Section and the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. He also has been a guest lecturer and panelist at numerous seminars and programs involving international and environmental law. Recent publications include an analysis of the “Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Saudi Arabia.”