Steven A. Adelman

Vice President / Event Safety Alliance

Steve Adelman is head of Adelman Law Group, PLLC, Vice President of the Event Safety Alliance, and Deputy Chair of the Global Crowd Management Alliance.

His law practice focuses on risk management, safety, and security at mass gatherings, including sports, music, corporate activations, parades, and other live events. He creates and reviews contracts for clients in all aspects of event production and operations; he writes safety plans and conducts staff training; and he serves as an event safety expert witness. Notable expert engagements include lawsuits arising from the 2011 Indiana State Fair stage roof collapse, the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting, and the 2021 Astroworld crowd crush.

Steve Adelman has been an officer and director of the Event Safety Alliance since its inception in 2012. His recent achievements for ESA include leading the creation of American National Standards for Crowd Management, ANSI ES1.9-2020, and for Event Security, ANSI ES1.40-2023, and he currently leads the group creating an ANSI standard for Parade Safety. Steve is a lead editor of the second edition of the Event Safety Guide, he co-hosts the Event Safety Podcast, and he speaks on behalf of ESA at other organizations’ conferences and writes for their publications.

Steve is a passionate fan of the Boston Red Sox and supporter of the English soccer team Tottenham Hotspurs, and a highlight of his career was appearing onstage with Blue Man Group. He and his wife Sally live with their dogs in Norwalk, Connecticut.