Steve Derian teaches Trial Advocacy, Professional Responsibility, and Sports and the Law (in which, among other tasks, he has students engage in mock negotiations with business officials of such local teams as the Dodgers and the Lakers). He is a recipient of the Charles and Harriet Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award for Lecturers and the School of Law's Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Professor Derian's interest in sports and the law grew out of his earlier undergraduate experiences at U.C. Berkeley, where he played football and baseball. He remains an avid tennis player and golfer. Before joining UCLA School of Law, he worked as a litigator at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Professor Derian lectures to bar association groups and to law firms on subjects related to both legal ethics and sports law. He also serves as an arbitrator in matters involving sports law.