Professor Steinberg is the Rupert and Lillian Radford Chair in Law and Professor of Law at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Dedman School of Law. He is the Director of the SMU Corporate Counsel Externship Program, the former Director of SMU’s Corporate Directors’ Institute, the former Senior Associate Dean for Academics, and the former Senior Associate Dean for Research at the Law School. Prior to becoming the Radford Professor, Professor Steinberg taught at the University of Maryland School of Law, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the National Law Center of the George Washington University, and the Georgetown University Law Center. His experience includes appointments as a Visiting Professor, Scholar and Fellow at law schools outside of the United States, including at Universities in Argentina, Australia, China, England, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, and Sweden. In addition, he has been retained as an expert witness in several significant matters, including Enron, Martha Stewart, Belnick (Tyco), Mark Cuban, and the National Prescription Litigation.

In addition to his University appointments, Professor Steinberg has lectured extensively both in the United States and abroad, including at the Lauterpacht Centre of International Law at the University of Cambridge, Heidelberg University, University of Auckland, the University of Tokyo, Peking University, UCLA, the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the University of Pennsylvania, the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting, the PLI Annual Institute on Securities Regulation, the University of Texas Annual Securities Law Conference, the International Development Law Institute in Rome, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Taiwan "SEC" in Taipei, the New Zealand Securities Commission, the Australian Law Council Section on International Law in Melbourne, the David Hume Institute in Edinburgh, the German-American Lawyers' Association in Munich, the International Law Society of South Africa, the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, the Finnish Banking Lawyers Association in Helsinki, the Swedish Banking Lawyers Association in Stockholm, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Economic Crimes Department of the Russian Federation in Moscow. He also has served as a member of the FINRA National Adjudicatory Council (NAC). 

Professor Steinberg received his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and his law degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles (J.D.) and Yale University (LL.M.).  He clerked for Judge Stanley N. Barnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, extern clerked for Judge Anthony J. Celebrezze of the Sixth Circuit, was legislative counsel to U.S. Senator Robert P. Griffin and served as the adviser to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg for the Federal Advisory Committee Report on Tender Offers.

Professor Steinberg was an enforcement attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and thereafter became special projects counsel. In that position, he directly assisted the SEC's General Counsel in a wide variety of projects and cases and served as the General Counsel's confidential legal adviser. 

Professor Steinberg has authored approximately 40 books and 150 law review articles, is editor-in-chief of The International Lawyer, editor-in-chief of The Securities Regulation Law Journal, and is an adviser to The Journal of Corporation Law. Professor Steinberg is a member of the American Law Institute.