Stephen “Skippy” Weinstein Honored with 2023 New Jersey Legal Awards ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’
Morristown, NJ (August 14, 2023) –Stephen “Skippy” Weinstein, Esq., of Britcher Leone & Sergio, LLC, of Glen Rock and Morristown, N.J., has been honored with 2023 New Jersey Legal Awards ‘Lifetime Achievement Award.’ The New Jersey Legal Awards honorees are selected by Law.com and New Jersey Law Journal editors and reporters.
“Considered one of New Jersey’s most renowned personal injury and medical malpractice litigators, Skippy has built a reputation based on unbridled tenacity, a wildly successful trial track record, and his sincere desire to help others,” noted Co-Founder and Head of the Trial Practice at Britcher, Leone & Sergio E. Drew Britcher, Esq. “ This honor is well-deserved and we are so proud of our friend and colleague.”
Weinstein, who is Of Counsel at Britcher, Leone & Sergio has devoted his practice, which spans nearly half a century, to medical malpractice and personal injury matters, including wrongful death, serious personal injury, brain injury, birth injury, product liability, construction accidents, automobile accidents, and slip and fall accidents.Additionally, he has handled all aspects of criminal litigation and has tried to verdict more than a dozen murder cases.
Committed to Doing ‘What’s Right’
Weinstein was among New Jersey’s first trial lawyers to use the “battered wife syndrome” defense in one murder trial (the client ended up serving only one year for involuntary manslaughter). In another trial, he won on appeal an argument that a woman, who was texting a driver that hit a motorcyclist and passenger (both of whom lost a leg), was responsible for the accident and subsequent injuries. In another headline case, he successfully argued the insanity defense on behalf of a woman who murdered her husband (having inflicted nearly 50 hatchet marks on his body) after he repeatedly raped and sodomized her because he threatened to do the same to their two young daughters. Not only was she found not guilty by reason of insanity and institutionalized for only 12 months, Skippy successfully argued that she should receive double indemnity on his life insurance policy – a published court decision in New Jersey.
“It is not about the money or the thrill of success,” Weinstein explained. “It’s about ‘what’s right,’ and the connections I have with my clients.”
With 44 published opinions and 13 murder case trials (including one capital murder case), Weinstein is known for his intense preparation for each trial which often involved a lone horseback ride where he practiced his opening statement/closing remarks. He also made a point to memorize every person‘s name that sat on his juries because “ it showed them that they are important,” he explained.
Named to the American College for Trial Lawyers for 15 years, Weinstein was recognized by New Jersey Super Lawyers from 2005 to 2018 and again in 2021, including being named among its Top 100 attorneys and its Top 10 in select years. In addition, he was also recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® for his work in the categories of Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, Criminal Defense – General Practice, and Criminal Defense – White Collar, from 1993 to 2024. He has received the AV Peer Review Rating for Ethical Standards and Legal Ability from Martindale-Hubbell, its highest ranking of professional excellence.
A frequent lecturer at the New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education on topics involving demonstrative evidence, no fault insurance, medical malpractice, wrongful death and personal injury cases, he has also lectured at Rutgers Law School and Seton Hall University School of Law.
Admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia, he earned a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law and a B.S. from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He resides in Harding Township, NJ.
About Britcher, Leone & Sergio, LLC
Britcher, Leone & Sergio, LLC, is a law firm specializing in personal injury and medical malpractice matters, with offices in Glen Rock and Morristown, N.J. The firm is focused on such matters as serious/catastrophic injury, birth injury, vehicular accidents, product liability, nursing home negligence, wrongful death, and defective drugs and medical devices. For more information, visit www.BLSattorneys.com.