Attorney Profile

Attorney Profile of William S. Stern

I attended the University of Michigan obtaining a Bachelors of General Studies degree in 1973. I attended law school at Michigan State University School of Law (formerly the Detroit College of Law) graduating in 1976. While attending law school, I left a law review appointment for the experience of working at a top notch law firm specializing in personal injury and workers’ compensation. I was a law clerk at a personal injury and workers’ compensation law firm during law school. I was sworn into the State Bar of Michigan and the United States Federal Court on May 10, 1977 and have been practicing since that date. I was a trial attorney for law firms specializing in personal injury and workers’ compensation, opening my own office in 1981. I have obtained the highest rating possible in both competency and ethics from the Martindale-Hubbell attorney rating association which is a rating awarded by other attorneys. I have extensive trial experience having successfully tried construction accident cases, medical and legal malpractice cases, automobile collision cases, workers’ compensation cases, police misconduct claims (long before the advent of video) and business disputes. I was an adjunct member of the Workers’ Compensation Appellate Commission, acting as an appellate judge on Workers’ Compensation cases.

I have extensive appellate experience having successfully represented claimants in discrimination claims, medical–legal issues and other types of cases many times before the Michigan Court of Appeals, on multiple occasions before the Michigan Supreme Court and the Sixth Circuit federal Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. I am approved for and participate frequently in the Oakland County Circuit Court and district courts on case evaluation panels. I am also approved to participate on medical malpractice case evaluation panels in the Wayne County Circuit Court.

Some of my sample cases legal achievements are as follows: 

In 1992 obtained a substantial verdict in the Wayne County Circuit Court against the Detroit Industrial Clinic involving the failure to diagnose a thumb injury resulting in the inability to use the hand in an industrial setting

In 1994 obtained a substantial verdict in the Macomb County Circuit Court involving a medical ethics case which was upheld by both the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court and was the subject of the Hardcopy television show and multiple news reports

Obtained a substantial verdict in the Wayne County Circuit Court in 1994 against General Motors involving injury to a construction worker who fell from a scaffold

In 1996 obtained a substantial verdict in the Oakland County Circuit Court involving the false diagnosis and treatment of a patient for HIV which was upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals

Obtained an award in 1998 against Brinks Security for the failure to pay a promised reward to an informant. This case was the subject of news articles in local newspapers.

Obtained a favorable decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals in a case dismissed by a lower Court judge on issues involving clergy confidentiality that was the subject of an article in the Michigan Lawyers Weekly, eventually overturned by the Michigan Supreme Court in a very political decision

Argued the position of the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association (now the Michigan Association of Justice) in the case of Powers vs PCHA involving issues of hospital governmental immunity

Obtained a ruling by a trial court upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals prohibiting the payment to expert witnesses on a contingency basis which was reduced to a State Bar of Michigan ethical guideline

Obtained one of the largest settlements in 2015 in a medical malpractice case involving the failure to diagnose colon cancer that was the subject of an article in the Michigan Lawyers Weekly

I have been an arbitrator and participated in alternative dispute resolution in hundreds of cases in the Metropolitan Detroit area, appointed by one or more of the parties. I have also completed training as a facilitator in Oakland County and was certified as a settlement facilitator by the Oakland County Circuit Court

I was a frequent guest on a radio show on WCHB on issues involving workers compensation, and general negligence

Moot Court judge of the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association and Wayne State University Law School in 1997 and 1998 judging student presentations on issues involving the intentional tort exception to the Workers’ Disability Compensation Act

Attorney

William S. Stern

Memberships

Member of the Michigan and Federal (Eastern District of Michigan) Bar Associations since May 10, 1977 and the Michigan Supreme Court

Sustaining member of the Michigan Association of Justice

Sustaining member of the Oakland County Bar Association

Member of the Southfield Bar Association

Member of the Workers’ Compensation and Negligence Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan

Time is of the essence, Contact Attorney Bill Stern Today for a Free Case Evaluation