Steve Olson

Steve Olson is a partner in the Los Angeles office of O’Melveny, a global law firm with 800 lawyers and 18 offices worldwide. Olson advises non-U.S. headquartered companies on investing and operating in the U.S. and navigating the regulatory and political environment. He is also co-chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practice. In 2021, Olson served as interim General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer for Hyundai and Genesis Motor Americas. He is currently Chair of the Word Trade Center Los Angeles and serves on the board of the Public Policy Institute of California.

Olson rejoined O’Melveny in 2013 after serving as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Commerce Secretary. In that role, he addressed many of the country’s important business issues, including U.S. manufacturing policy, the protection of trade secrets, and U.S. anti-corruption policy. Olson also served as founding Executive Director of SelectUSA, the U.S. initiative to attract increased investment in the United States by domestic and international businesses. Under his leadership, SelectUSA helped channel more than US$25 billion in new foreign investment into the United States, creating and retaining tens of thousands of jobs. With the Director of the White House National Economic Council, Olson co-chaired the Interagency Investment Working Group, composed of senior leadership from 22 federal agencies and the Executive Office of the President, and was charged with coordinating federal investment policy and U.S. Foreign Direct Investment attraction efforts. During Olson’s tenure, from 2011 to 2013, SelectUSA handled a pipeline of more than 800 in-bound investments from businesses all over the world, providing valuable counseling regarding federal and state incentive programs and helping investors navigate the U.S. regulatory environment by acting as their ombudsman with other government agencies.

Upon returning to O’Melveny, Olson joined up with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and the World Trade Center Los Angeles to launch the Select LA Investment Summit. Now in its eighth year, the event is recognized as Southern California’s premier international trade event that brings together global investors with business and government leaders from around Southern California.

As a former federal fraud prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, Olson also represents companies, boards of directors and executives in criminal and civil matters against government enforcement agencies and advises companies and independent directors in connection with complex and sensitive internal investigations. He has extensive jury trial experience both at the government and in private practice. Olson is consistently recognized by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and Benchmark Litigation as a leading lawyer in the area of White Collar Criminal Defense and he has repeatedly been named among the “Top White Collar Lawyers” by the Daily Journal, and the “Most Influential People in Los Angeles” by The Los Angeles Business Journal.