Adelman Law Group, PLLC

Adelman Law Group, PLLC is a Sports and Entertainment Law firm that focuses on safety and security at live events.

Steve Adelman is a recovering litigator who now helps clients mitigate the life safety risks that arise from the production and operation of entertainment, sports, corporate, municipal, and other mass gatherings, both indoors and outdoors, throughout North America.

Event Safety Advocacy

In addition to helping individual clients, Steve Adelman is a vigorous advocate for safe practices throughout the event industry. He was a founder and long-time Vice President of the leading non-profit association in this field, the Event Safety Alliance, and he now serves as Crowd Safety Consultant for Event Safety Alliance Canada. He led the task groups that created the American National Standards for Crowd Management, ANSI ES1.9-2020; Event Security, ANSI ES1.40-2023; and Parade Safety, ANSI ES1.42-2025, respectively. He wrote the Crowd Management chapter in the NFPA Fire Protection Handbook, 21st edition, and the Critical Perspectives on Sport and Security chapter in the Routledge Handbook of Sport Security, 1st edition. He is a frequent author and presenter for event professionals, and he is quoted as an event safety expert in mass media publications from The New York Times to People magazine.

Expert Witness

Thanks to his unique combination of legal training, advocacy skills, and subject matter expertise, Steve Adelman is a compelling expert witness regarding the standard of care applicable to live event safety and security in a variety of contexts. Notable engagements have included the 2011 Indiana State Fair stage roof collapse, the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas, and the 2021 Astroworld festival crowd crush. He has also provided guidance to legislative leaders following event-related disasters in the U.S. and Canada.

Contracts, Training, and Crowd Management Plans

Risk management comes in many forms. Steve Adelman drafts and revises contracts to provide maximum legal protection for his clients from the risks endemic to the event industry. He writes and reviews crowd management and event security plans so they are substantively effective and legally defensible. He leads NFPA-compliant crowd manager training for safety professionals. He trains event staff and other stakeholders how to activate their new safety plans in an emergency, he leads tabletop exercises to stress-test the plans and training, and he provides onsite support to ensure that everything works as intended.

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Notable Clients

Steve Adelman is proud to have provided risk management services to the following event producers in the fields of entertainment, sports, corporate activations, and public safety.