About

Before moving to New Jersey early in her career, Melissa (Missy) Luce spent the first six years of her practice of law in Charleston for Di Trapano & Jackson. Prior to returning to West Virginia, Missy spent many years handling medical malpractice and general personal injury litigation cases for the New Jersey law firm of Stephen S. Weinstein, PA. Her current practice continues to focus on medical malpractice, birth injury/trauma, pharmaceutical litigation, product liability, wrongful death, and personal injury litigation.

Missy graduated on the Dean’s List from Davis & Elkins College in 1983, magna cum laude, including a semester of study abroad at Oxford University, and received her Juris Doctor from West Virginia University College of Law in 1986 where she was honored as the Outstanding Graduate. Missy is licensed to practice law in state and federal courts in West Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. As a result of her extensive trial and appellate work during her time in New Jersey, Missy was recognized by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney, a distinction earned by only 1% of the approximately 100,000 attorneys in the state. Missy is AV Preeminent® Peer Rated, an honor bestowed by Martindale-Hubbell® for achieving the highest level of professional excellence for her legal knowledge and experience, analytical capability, judgment, communications, and ethical standards. She was also named to the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 West Virginia Super Lawyers list, a peer-nominated distinction held by no more than 5% of a state's lawyers. Missy also received the prestigious honor of being selected by the West Virginia Bar Foundation as a 2020 Fellow; only 375 lawyers and judges have been inducted as Fellows since 1999 from more than 6,000 working in West Virginia.

Missy enjoys contributing to various programs in our community, including the Special Olympics and Project Hope, and she has volunteered as a youth basketball coach for the YMCA. In 1982, she participated in mission work for Project Serve in the Dominican Republic. In 1985, she was selected to work as an intern for former WV Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV. While in New Jersey, she served as counsel to the Morris County Democratic Committee from 2002 until she returned to West Virginia in 2008 and was a member of the Visiting Nurses Association of Northern New Jersey’s Board of Trustees from 2001 until 2008. Following the September 11, 2001, tragedy, she served as a volunteer attorney for Trial Lawyers Care, providing free legal representation to victims and their families. Missy served as a member of the Board of Trustees of her alma mater Davis & Elkins College from 1987 to 1998 and from 2003 to 2012. Born in Fayetteville, West Virginia, she resides in Charleston and is an avid outdoors enthusiast, having formerly been a whitewater guide on the world-renowned New River. She takes particular delight in having bungee jumped, skydived, and hang-glided in many different countries, although she is now retired from such ventures!

Bar Admissions

• West Virginia State Bar, 1986
• New Jersey State Bar, 1991
• New York State Bar, 2003
• Pennsylvania State Bar, 2000

Court Admissions

• U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia
• U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Education

• J.D., West Virginia University, 1986
  • Named Outstanding Graduate, College of Law
  • Patrick Duffy Koontz Award
  • Member, Moot Court Board
  • President, Law School Council
  • Intern, Office of U.S. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV
• B.A., Majors: History and Political Science, Davis & Elkins College, 1983
  • Magna cum laude
  • Oxford University Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Oxford, England
  • Dean's List
  • President, Student Government
  • Governor's Advisory Board of Students
  • Intercollegiate Women's Basketball and Tennis Teams

Areas of Practice

• Medical Malpractice
• Birth Trauma/Injury Litigation
• Pharmaceutical Litigation
• Products Liability
• Wrongful Death
• Automobile Accidents
• General Personal Injury

Reported Cases

• Board of Education, County of Kanawha v. McCuskey, 403 S.E.2d 17 (W. Va. 1991)
• Cavallaro v. Jamco Prop. Mgt., 334 N.J. Super. 557 (App. Div. 2000)
• Correia v. Sherry, 335 N.J. Super. 50 (Law Div., 2000)
• Kosnoski v. Howeley, 33 F.3d 376 (4th Cir. 1994)
• Paul v. National Life, 352 S.E.2d (W. Va. 1986), 63 A.L.R. 4th 155
• Torrence v. Kusminsky, 408 S.E.2d 684 (W. Va. 1991)

Unpublished Cases

• Brown v. South Street Presbyterian Church, Docket No. A-3952-98 (App. Div. 2000)
• Burton v. Schiavone Construction Co., Inc., Docket No. A-3097-00T5 (App. Div. 2003)
• Kosnoski v. Howeley, 976 F.2d 726 (4th Cir. 1992)
• Taywood Mining, Inc. v. Wellman, 867 F.2d 609 (4th Cir. 1989)

Publications and Lectures

• ATLA-NJ Educational Foundation Seminar, 'The Business of Litigation: When to Say Yes or No,' Feb. 27, 1999
• Bayshore Community Hospital, Holmdel, NJ, 'Truth Telling and Disclosure of Medical Errors,' Nov. 18, 2005
• Menopause Management, 'Legal Issues in Patient Counseling,' May 1994
• National Business Institute, Inc., 'Determining and Proving Damages'
• New Jersey Law Journal, 'Ensuring Fair Play in Game to Get Medical Records,' Jan. 20, 2003

Memberships

• Birth Trauma Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
• Injury Board
• Litigation Counsel of America, Diversity Law Institute
• Litigation Counsel of America, Order of Certus
• Litigation Counsel of America, Order of Justitia
• Litigation Counsel of America, Trial Law Institute
• New Jersey Association for Justice, Board of Governors (inactive)
• West Virginia Association for Justice

Honors

• AV-Preeminent Peer Rated for Highest Level of Professional Excellence – Martindale-Hubbell
• America's Most Honored Professionals, Top 1% (2018-2019)
• American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys, 10 Best Attorneys for Client Satisfaction in Personal Injury (2017-2018)
• American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys, 10 Best Law Firm for Client Satisfaction in Personal Injury (2017-2020)
• Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers
• Best Attorneys of America, Lifetime Charter Member
• Board of Governors, New Jersey Association for Justice (formerly NJ-ATLA)
• Certified Civil Trial Attorney, as recognized by Supreme Court of New Jersey (inactive)
• Lawyers of Distinction (2019)
• Litigation Counsel of America, Senior Fellow
• Million Dollar Advocates Forum
• National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys, Top 10 Personal Injury Attorney (2015-16, 2018)
• National Trial Lawyers, Top 100 Trial Lawyers (2014-2018)
• West Virginia Bar Foundation, Fellow (2020)
• West Virginia Super Lawyers, Plaintiff Personal Injury – Medical Malpractice (2020-2023)