Find Lawyers

Stephen J. Petras, Jr.

Stephen J. Petras Jr. is an international business lawyer with extensive experience counseling clients on domestic as well as foreign legal issues related to international business transactions. He is the head of Baker Hostetler’s International Industry Team.

Mr. Petras practices in the business and corporate areas with special emphasis on international business transactions. Mr. Petras began his career in international law in 1978 when he worked in the legal department of a large multinational corporation at its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, concentrating on European community law relating to contracts, technology licensing and competition policies.

Mr. Petras has acted as counsel in numerous significant transactions, including international/global structuring of business operations for manufacturing, high-tech and services companies, mergers, acquisitions and international securities transactions. The deal size of any transaction varies and includes those exceeding $1 billion (U.S.). His practice also includes representation regarding international regulatory compliance issues and commercial agreements for joint ventures, product distribution and development, agency and distributorships, technology licensing, and sales transactions.

Mr. Petras is a past president of the Cleveland World Trade Association and was instrumental in the consolidation of this organization with the World Trade Center Cleveland, on whose Advisory Board he serves. Mr. Petras is the past president of the Greater Cleveland International Lawyers Group and has long been active in efforts to increase international business throughout the region.  He also serves the United States Department of Commerce as a member of the Northern Ohio District Export Council.

Mr. Petras, in June of 1996, was appointed as an Ohio Commodore by Governor Voinovich in recognition of encouraging international business for Ohio. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of Case Western Reserve University School of Law’s Journal of International Law and LL.M. program for foreign lawyers. Mr. Petras is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Canada-U.S. Law Institute.

Mr. Petras is a member of the International Law Section of the American Bar Association and the International Licensing Executives Society. He also has served on the Board of the Greater Cleveland International Trade Alliance and the Strategic Planning Task Force of the World Trade Center Cleveland. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Council on World Affairs and previously served as a Trustee and as a former Chair of the Committee on Trustees.

Mr. Petras serves on the Advisory Board of the International TRADE Program, James J. Nance College of Business Administration of Cleveland State University, and in April of 2005 was awarded membership in the Alpha Kappa Epsilon International Business Honor Society. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of the “Guide to the International Sales of Goods Convention,” Business Laws, Inc.

Mr. Petras is the Chairman of the MetroWest Kiwanis Educational Foundation and serves on the boards of several privately owned businesses.