Stephen P. New

Founder and Attorney, New Law Office

Photo by Shawna Lilly.

By Jean Hardiman

While native West Virginian and military veteran Stephen New has received recognition for legal excellence from his peers, area publications and the Association of Justice at the state and national levels, his most cherished accomplishments often come in the form of a handwritten note from a client, thanking him and his firm for a job well done.

New, who runs his own firm, New Law Office, in Beckley, WV, has always aimed to serve hardworking West Virginians and protect them from injustice at the hands of more powerful entities, whether that means feisty litigation for a personal injury client, lobbying the Legislature on behalf of workers’ Seventh Amendment rights, fighting for decent pay for court-appointed attorneys or doing pro bono work for a strapped not-for-profit organization.

Law was a career he chose when he was in eighth grade while growing up in Gilbert, WV, in the 1980s as the son of a coal mining foreman and a mother who went back to college for her teaching degree. “My younger brother, Jamey, and I enjoyed a nice, middle-class upbringing that taught hard work, kindness to neighbors and the importance of education,” says New.

He joined the Army six days after his 17th birthday and went to basic training while still in high school. He then graduated from Marshall University with a political science degree in 1994, where he had been a member of Marshall’s intercollegiate debate team, Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and the ROTC program. At the time of graduation, he was also commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Then he applied for West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law, unsuccessfully.

“The most teachable moments have been those where I failed at something,” he says. “I did not get accepted to WVU the first time I applied, but that setback gave me another year of service in the Army. I took tank training at Fort Knox, and that extra time refreshed me and allowed me to enter law school the following year ready to meet the challenges ahead. During my 20 years of law practice, the wins and successes have been wonderful, but I have always learned the most when my cases did not turn out as I hoped or there has been a trial or appellate loss.”

New’s 20 years in the military were invaluable as well. “I believe I would never have accomplished a single goal I set for myself without my military service,” he says. “Discipline, punctuality, toughness, attention to detail, respect for others in positions of authority, teamwork—those are the skills and attributes I learned or refined in the Army.”

New enjoyed his 20 years in uniform, from enlisting in tanks and being commissioned as an armor officer to completing his service as the deputy commander for Camp Dawson in Kingwood, WV, and retiring as a major.

Many of the skills New honed in the military helped him during law school, which was an intimidating prospect for him at first. “I was scared at the beginning,” he says. “I knew I was close to my goal of becoming a lawyer. I did not want anything to interfere with that, so I took precautions. I did not take a TV to law school, and I did not use the internet during my first year.”

New graduated from WVU College of Law in 1998, Order of the Barristers. He was the top-ranked Lugar advocate in his class and competed on the traveling trial advocacy team. He also served as chief justice of the Moot Court Board.

“What I enjoyed the most about law school was the camaraderie,” he says. “The Class of 1998 was an outstanding class, and I enjoyed being with all my friends. Books I had read prior to law school made me afraid of what the experience would be like, but at WVU, the professors, staff and my classmates made my law school experience three of the best years of my life.”

Professor Thomas Cady, who taught torts, insurance and workers’ compensation, had a lasting impact on New, as did Doug Adkins, who hired New as a summer associate and later worked with him as co-counsel on a number of cases.

“Doug has always mentored me both professionally and personally,” says New. “He has shown me how to adequately prepare cases in a wide variety of practice areas and how to vigorously fight for my clients. He is an outstanding lawyer and an even better person.”

New’s first full-time job in the legal field was serving as a circuit court law clerk for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He worked with Raleigh County’s three circuit court judges and learned that there is no substitute for being prepared. He then took a job with Pamela Lambert as an associate attorney for four years. She allowed him to work cases and take them to trial. “Working in her office taught me that when I put the clients first, most other things will fall in line more easily,” he says.

In 2004, New opened his own firm in Beckley, WV. “I wanted the freedom that comes with being able to select the cases I want to handle, the clients I represent and the legal areas where I want to practice,” he says of that decision. “I have been blessed to continue representing injured workers in workers’ compensation claims, a practice area very important to me, but I have also been able to expand into many other practice areas too—and take the risks associated with it.”

Today, New spends much time lobbying to protect the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to trial by jury in civil cases, and he stands against tort reform in the name of economic development. “I enjoy being at the Legislature and educating our lawmakers about the impact of tort reform on the constitutional rights of their constituents,” he says.

He keeps most of his focus, however, on workplace injuries, an area that has faced many battles since 2005, when the West Virginia Legislature abolished the Rule of Liberality and privatized the workers’ compensation system. “I have made a number of appearances before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and I am proud that those appearances have led to many decisions to restore and expand the workers’ compensation rights for those workers,” he says.

New considers his greatest success to be a case that reached the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in which he helped a widow receive the due benefits she was being denied, and he is also extremely proud of a case in which he was co-lead counsel for a group of nursing students who had been misled about the accreditation status of their department at Mountain State University.

In recognition of New’s efforts, he has been selected as a Super Lawyer by his peers. He is currently serving as president of the West Virginia Association for Justice, and he has achieved the rank of diplomat with the American Association of Justice Advanced Study in Trial Advocacy program through continuing education.

When he’s not in a courtroom or at the state capitol, New enjoys helping law interns learn the legal ropes and serving the community through efforts such as the bicycle helmet philanthropy program he established within his firm in 2005. It started when a client contacted him from an emergency room because a physician was planning to call Child Protective Services about the man’s daughter sustaining injuries in a bike accident during which she wasn’t wearing a helmet.

“The result of that project has been the purchase of more than 12,000 bicycle helmets by my firm,” says New. “My office and I are extremely proud when we see those bicycle helmets out in our community keeping children safe.”

New serves as president of Theatre West Virginia’s board of directors, which has performed outdoor dramas at Grandview Park for 58 years. He also participated in the 2014 Hunks in Heels fundraiser, raising more than $34,000 for victims of domestic violence, and in a local Dancing with the Stars fundraiser that raised more than $200,000 for the United Way of Southern West Virginia. His firm also sponsors little league and other area sports teams.

“I have been the beneficiary of others’ generosity my entire life,” New says of the driving force behind his community service. “I simply attempt to be an extension of the same generosity that was shown to me when I was growing up.”

New is proud to serve his home state in so many different capacities. “I am a product of West Virginia—her communities, her public schools from Head Start through law school and her military,” he says. “I hope everything I do helps cast West Virginia in a positive light, and I am blessed to be able to give back to the communities and the state I call home.”