Truck accident attorney Steve Gursten named Michigan Lawyers Weekly "Leader in the Law"

Steven M. Gursten, partner of Gursten, Koltonow, Gursten, Christensen and Raitt, PC has been honored by Michigan Lawyers Weekly among the state’s top 25 attorneys as a 2008 Leader in the Law.

Out of more than 40,000 Michigan lawyers, Steve was chosen for his continuing efforts to force unsafe trucking companies to comply with mandatory state and federal regulations. He was also recognized for receiving both the top 2008 Michigan settlement (a truck accident wrongful death case) and auto negligence jury verdict (a pedestrian in an auto accident), according to a published year-end verdicts and settlements report.

As Michigan Lawyers Weekly stated, "To be leaders, (the Leaders in the Law) must show that they are using their intellectual gifts not merely to succeed by winning, but also to improve lives by advancing a cause… And, in advancing that cause, true leaders do not only employ smart strategies; they also practice with integrity, with honor, with respect for others..."

For his work to increase safety compliance by dangerous trucking companies and unfit truck drivers, Steve says that as Michigan has no bad faith law or punitive damages, there’s little deterrent for those that knowingly break the law and put profits over safety. In Michigan, there is approximately one in three trucks on the road with dangerous safety violations. Steve notes that the only way to prevent truck accidents is for truck accident attorneys to aggressively hold bad trucking companies accountable — by litigating serious truck accident cases and fighting for better enforcement of truck safety laws.

Steve is on the executive board of governors representing Michigan for the Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America and is immediate past president of the American Association for Justice Truck Litigation Group. He has received the largest reported jury verdict for an automobile accident case in Michigan in four of the past seven years, and frequently lectures at legal seminars across the country on topics such as trial advocacy, Michigan no-fault law and maximizing settlements for those injured and killed in serious truck accidents.

The group of elite Leaders in the Law also includes Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, former Detroit mayor Dennis Archer, director of the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office James Neuhard and Norman Fell, founder of the Cooley Law School Innocence Project.

In 2005, Steve was named a Michigan Lawyers Weekly Lawyer of the Year.