Managing partner, Robert M. Steeg, was one of 50 professionals honored at the New Orleans CityBusiness Money Makers 2017 luncheon on October 18 at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel New Orleans. 

As noted in a special Money Makers insert that appeared in the October 26 edition of New Orleans CityBusiness, the 2017 class ranged from investment advisers and entrepreneurs to bankers, accountants and leaders in the construction and transportation industries.

Following is Rob’s interview with reporter Leslie Quinn that appeared in the Money Makers 2017 special section.

Professional
Robert Steeg
Steeg Law Firm managing partner

When Robert Steeg returned to New Orleans to join the real estate and business law firm founded by his father, he planned to branch out into other areas of the law.

But he found the Steeg Law Firm’s specialities so interesting he continued to pursue them. Now as a managing partner, he feels they are a creative and rewarding area of practice.

“You are putting together elements of a deal that are diverse and you have to figure out a way to put them all together,” he said.

Steeg talks with pride of the many building projects in which he and his firm have played a part. Over the years, technology and tax laws have changed the way they do business, but the art of bringing together people who are buying and selling, leasing and renting and developing land is still a people business.

“Treat every person with respect and treat every client, no matter how large or how small, with the awareness that the problem they’re dealing with is one of the most important things in their life and acknowledge that with the attention that is deserved,” he said.

Relying too much on technology can be a detriment, he added.

He points to a case where he anticipated a party in a contract would come back later to claim his client had done something wrong. Steeg put a clause in the contract where the other party acknowledged his client had handled it correctly.

Years later, the client told Steeg that his foresight had helped him win a lawsuit. Experience and careful thinking were more valuable to the client, in that instance, than technology.

“Things still do require old-fashioned brain power,” Steeg said.

Steeg is active in a number of community organizations but feels his greatest achievement is his family and two successful children. He hopes he has been able to blend his professional, civic and personal activities in such a way that others see him as a productive member of the community.