Anstey, Stephen M.

Stephen M. Anstey

Associate

607 14th Street, NW Suite 900, Washington, DC USA 20005

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Overview
Experience
Insights

Overview

Stephen M. Anstey is a litigator and member of Kilpatrick Townsend’s Native American Affairs team. U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers selected Kilpatrick Townsend as the 2020 “Law Firm of the Year” for Native American Law. His practice focuses on sustainability, environmental matters, energy, complex property and contract disputes, rights-of-way trespass, class actions, oil and gas, treaty rights, Tribal governance and statutory drafting, and Tribal economic development. In addition, Mr. Anstey has worked extensively on pro bono civil rights cases, including discrimination and LGBTQIA+ matters.

Mr. Anstey earned his LL.M. from Harvard Law School and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He practices in Kilpatrick Townsend’s Washington D.C. office.

While receiving his LL.M. from Harvard Law School, Mr. Anstey researched and wrote extensively on complex litigation, property law, banking, and federal Indian law. Mr. Anstey also served as the Graduate Student Representative of the Harvard Law School chapter of the Native American Law Students Association.

Prior to receiving his LL.M., Mr. Anstey was one of approximately 20 law school graduates from around the world accepted into the Harvard Law School Graduate Program as a Visiting Researcher. While serving as a Visiting Researcher, Mr. Anstey wrote on federal Indian law, property law, contract law, and comparative international law under the sponsorship of Professor Joseph W. Singer. During this time, Mr. Anstey also served as the Executive Director of the Native Amicus Briefing Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering a greater understanding of federal Indian law in the federal courts as well as in the legal community at large.

While attending the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Anstey served as the Chairman of the University of Michigan chapter of the Native American Law Students Association. He also interned for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Tribal Court where he served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Allie Greenleaf Maldonado.

Mr. Anstey was recognized as a 2019 and 2020 Washington D.C. “Rising Star” for Native American Law by Super Lawyers magazine.

Experience

Represented enrolled members of the Comanche, Caddo, Apache, Cherokee, and Kiowa Tribes of Oklahoma, who own a trust allotment outside of Anadarko, Oklahoma, in actions for trespass and condemnation arising from the continued operation of a natural gas pipeline for more than sixteen years after the easement expired. After being turned away by multiple firms, the landowners approached Kilpatrick Townsend, who agreed to take the case. We obtained dismissal of the gas company’s condemnation claims, and the federal district court for the Western District of Oklahoma entered summary judgment against the gas company for trespass. On appeal, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the condemnation claims and affirmed summary judgment on trespass. Marcia W. Davilla, et al. v. Enable Midstream Partners, L.P., et al., No. 5:2015cv01262 (W.D. Okla. 2016); Marcia W. Davilla, et al. v. Enable Midstream Partners, L.P., et al., No. 17-6088 (10th Cir. 2019); Enable Oklahoma Intrastate Transmission LLC v. 25 Foot Wide Easement, No. 17-6188 (10th Cir. 2018).

Insights