Skippy Weinstein has been one of the state's leading trial lawyers for nearly four decades. Warm, personable and powerfully instinctive, Weinstein is one of those rare professionals who relates well to everyone - he's represented indigent victims, high-powered judges and politicians alike. And his remarkable record of success in the courtroom - in both civil and criminal cases - has earned him a formidable reputation.

The son of a physician and a native of Newark, Weinstein over the years has made much of his being a teen-age gang member who quit high school, and who later earned a high school equivalency degree. Other lawyers say Weinstein was not quite the degenerate he claims to be, but the legend got burnished in a 1993 New York Times profile. "I made up my mind I wanted more out of life," he told The Times. Weinstein ("Skippy," a childhood nickname he never outgrew, may make adversaries underestimate him today) says "I always wanted to do trial work, to give a fair shake for people who otherwise wouldn't get it."

Early on, Weinstein developed unique and effective trial skills - blending assertiveness, humility and instinctive empathy for every participant in a courtroom - that are his hallmark today. "The eyes are the window of the soul for each of us," says Weinstein today. Weinstein clerked for three Morris County judges and worked for two Newark firms before launching his own firm. For over 30 years he has been a solo practitioner - today with 13 employees, including 3 associates. His practice focuses on wrongful death, personal injury, product liability, and malpractice law, as well as criminal defense law. He has been in court an average of three days a week.

He and his wife Nancy are residents of New Vernon, New Jersey; they have four grown children and six grandchildren. He remains a visitor and loyal supporter of his native Newark, its schools and its charities.