[2] After law school, he spent a year as an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and then served as an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate prosecution team from 1974 to 1975.
He then spent four years as an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., before moving to the Justice Department, where he served in various capacities from 1981 to 1986.
He served in that position through the end of the George H. W. Bush administration, overseeing the beginning of the prosecution of Representative Dan Rostenkowski.
When George W. Bush became president, he nominated Stephens to be United States Associate Attorney General, and the Senate confirmed him on November 8, 2001.
[5] On September 27, 2002, he announced his resignation, effective October 7, to become Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Raytheon.