Steven Cousins Selected as an NAACP Inspiring St. Louisan
04.01.14
Steven N. Cousins, an Armstrong Teasdale partner who helped break racial barriers for local
African American lawyers, will be recognized as a 2014 Inspiring St. Louisan by the St. Louis
County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He
will be honored at the NAACP’s 76th Annual Freedom Fund Fellowship dinner on June 3, 2014 at
the Clayton Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
Cousins was chosen because of his superior performance in law and for helping to make the
region stronger.
A member of Armstrong Teasdale’s Executive Committee, Cousins is founder of the firm’s
Financial Restructuring, Reorganization and Bankruptcy practice group. When Cousins was hired
by Armstrong Teasdale in 1980, he became the firm’s first African American lawyer. He was
named chair of the firm’s first bankruptcy practice in 1984 and became the first African American
partner in 1987. Today, Cousins has a nationally recognized practice in the areas of bankruptcy,
reorganization, and restructuring.
In addition to his bankruptcy practice, Cousins successfully represented former HUD Secretary
Alphonso Jackson, a White House cabinet member, in a three-year Department of Justice
investigation that was closed without the filing of charges. This resulted in his complete
vindication. Cousins also represented the national office of the NAACP some years ago when it
experienced financial challenges.
Cousins has been listed for more than 20 years in The Best Lawyers in America® for his work in
bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law. He has also been named for many years as a
Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyer. He is also listed in Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the
country’s top five bankruptcy lawyers and received numerous awards including the 2013
Trailblazer Award from 100 Black Men of Metropolitan St. Louis.
An active community leader, Cousins has served for many years as general counsel and an
executive committee member of the St. Louis Regional Chamber. In March, the Commissioner of
Education of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education named Cousins to
the Normandy School District Transition Task Force. He also serves as vice-chairman and board
of trustees member of St. Louis Children’s Hospital and an honorary board of trustees member of
the St. Louis Art Museum. He served as the initial co-chair of the St. Louis Internship Program,
which gives new hope and direction to inner city youth. This program, which has been replicated in
38 other cities, has more than 3,300 alumni of which 98 percent have gone on to post-secondary
education. Cousins is a co-founder and former co-chair of the St. Louis Public Schools
Foundation and a community advisory board member of the University of Missouri-St. Louis
Center for Ethics in Public Life. He has served on numerous other civic, university and secondary
education boards, both in the public and private sector. Cousins also participates in Special
Friends Extended mentoring program, which serves the Jennings School District, founded by his
wife, Holly Cousins.