Attorney Profiles
W. Steve Bozeman
A United States Navy veteran, Mr. Bozeman serves Of Counsel to the Levin Papantonio Firm and limits his practice to consultation with other attorneys in cases involving serious injury or threats to the public health and the environment. A native of Biloxi, MS, Steve attended the University of Mississippi on a Navy ROTC scholarship and was commissioned in 1969. Following multiple tours as a Surface Warfare Officer, he was among the first seventeen Naval Officers selected to attend law school under the Navy's Law Education Program. He was graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law, magna cum laude, in 1977. While in law school, he served as Chairman of the Moot Court Board and as a volunteer tutor.
Following several tours as a Navy JAG officer, Steve retired from the Navy as a Commander, JAGC, USN, and entered the private practice of law in his native Mississippi, where he represented shipyard workers injured by asbestos exposure. He also represented the states of Mississippi and Louisiana in asbestos property damage cases and was a pioneer with other Mississippi attorneys in tobacco litigation. Steve became actively involved in the representation of several other states in tobacco litigation, including Michigan, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, among others. His former firm's central role in tobacco litigation was featured in the Michael Mann film, The Insider, and chronicled in the books Assuming the Risk, by Michael Orey, and Civil Warriors, by Dan Zegart.
Steve is an avid environmentalist, and with friend and colleague, Mike Papantonio of the Firm, co-founded the Emerald Coastkeeper, Inc., a non-profit arm of Robert F. Kennedy's National Water Alliance Riverkeeper movement. He is a former Member of the Board of Trustees of the National Water Alliance. Active in civic affairs, Steve is an Honorary Member of the Regional Board of Directors of Catholic Charities of NW Florida, and was presented the 2000 Civic Award by the Greater Pensacola Florida Kiwanis Club for his volunteer work in support of Healthy Kids of Escambia County, Inc. A supporter of the arts, he is a Member of the Board of Directors of The Drama Department, Inc. (www.dramadept.org), a non-profit Off-Broadway theater company in New York City, and was a Co-Producer of the Broadway Play The Little Dog Laughed which was nominated for two Tony Awards in 2007: Best Play and Best Lead Actress in a Play. Little Dog's Lead Actress, Julie White won the 2007 Tony for Best Lead Actress in a Play. He also co-produced The Yellow Wood which won the award for Best Music in the 2007 New York Musical Theater Festival.
- Certification/Specialties:
- Certified to Act as Trial & Defense Counsel in Military Courts-Martial
- Bar Admissions:
- Mississippi
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Mississippi
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Mississippi
- U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Education:
- University of Miami School of Law, Coral Gables, Florida, 1982
LL.M.
Major: Ocean and Coastal Law - University of Mississippi School of Law, University, Mississippi, 1977
J.D.
Honors: Magna Cum Laude - University of Mississippi, 1969
B.A. - Naval Justice School
Honors: Honors Graduate
- Honors and Awards:
- 2000 Civic Award
- Professional Associations and Memberships:
- Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, Pensacola, Florida
- Member
- Jackson County Mississippi Bar Association
- Member
- American Bar Association
- Member
- The Mississippi Bar
- The Association of Trial Lawyers of America
- The Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association
- Member
- Vote.com, Inc.
- Vice President
- Vote.com, Inc.
- Member, Board of Directors
- The Drama Department, Inc.
- Member, Board of Directors
- Escambia County Healthy Kids, Inc.
- Member, Board of Advisors
- National Water Alliance
- Member, Board of Trustees
- Pensacola Gulf Coastkeepers, Inc.
- Vice President, Board
- Pensacola Gulf Coastkeepers, Inc.,
- Member, Board
- Pensacola Gulf Coastkeepers, Inc.
- Co-Founder
- Past Employment Positions:
- U.S. Navy, Active Duty, 1969 - 1989
- U.S. Navy, Commander
- Naval Legal Service Office, NAS Pensacola, Florida, Executive Officer
- Scruggs, Millette, Bozeman & Dent, P.A., 1989 - 2000