Car Wrecks, Job Injuries and Personal Injuries – Special Emphasis on Traumatic Brain Injury
Steve Gerdes is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Nebraska College of Law. He has over 40 years of trial experience. He is a member of the American Association for Justice and serves on the Board of Directors of the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys. He is a member of the Brain Injury Association and North American Brain Injury Society. He is a former board member of the Brain Injury Association of Nebraska. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Gerdes gives frequent presentations to other lawyers on the trial of personal injury cases and in particular the handling of cases for people with traumatic brain injury. Beginning in 1993 and most recently in 2011, he made presentations to the Brain Injury Association’s and North American Brain Injury Society’s national conference for trial lawyers. He has made presentations on brain injuries before trial attorney associations in Nebraska, Iowa, Utah, Louisiana, and Ohio. Some of the topics include:
- Before and After Witnesses in Post-Concussion Syndrome Cases
- Representing the Plaintiff at Deposition, Defense Medical Exam, and Trial
- Seizure Disorders
- Brain Mapping in the Courtroom
- Mild Brain Injury Cases in Nebraska Workers’ Compensation
- Mild Brain Injury Cases in Iowa Workers’ Compensation
- Direct Examination of the Neurologist in the Mild to Moderate Closed Head Injury Case
- Cranial Nerves II – XII Intact; Brain Intact–not
- What Do I Do About the PET in my Case?
- Direct Examination of the Medical Expert
- Visual and Balance Disorders
- Neuro-Optometry in TBI Cases
Mr. Gerdes was a co-chairman of “Traumatic Brain Injury: A Plaintiff’s and Defendant’s Perspective” held in Omaha in 1996. He is the co-author with Samuel Mehr M.D. of “Medicolegal Aspects of PET Scans,” which appeared in the medical journal, Neurorehabilitation, in 2001.


Mr. Gerdes is actively involved in the community. He holds local, regional, and national positions with the United States Tennis Association and serves regularly as the referee of regional, collegiate, and national tennis tournaments. He is also the senior editor of Friend at Court, the tennis rulebook for the United States.

He was the Youth Exchange Officer for Rotary District 5650, which includes Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska for eight years. In that capacity, he was responsible for finding placements for Midwestern high school students in countries around the world and in finding host schools for foreign students in this area. His family has frequently hosted exchange students. He served as President of South Central Rotary Youth Exchange (2018-2019) and is current president of the North American Youth Exchange Network. He is secretary of the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel. Mr. Gerdes serves as secretary of the Omaha Sister Cities Association and is on the board of the American Friends of Asian Rural Institute.
Family
Mr. Gerdes and his wife have three adult children, one of whom is a survivor of traumatic brain injury.