Steven F. Fairlie Esq.
Award winning lawyers handling Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, Car Accident and DUI matters.
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Experience:
30 years
Steven Fairlie | North Wales Accident & Injury Lawyer
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Accepts Credit Cards
Accepts Referrals
Reviews Pro Bono Cases
Main Office
1501 Lower State Road, Ste 304
North Wales, PA 19454
Office Hours
Monday - Friday9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Other Locations
Proudly serving North Wales Pennsylvania an the surrounding areas
Fairlie & Lippy, PC
About Steven
Steven F. Fairlie has been designated a Pennsylvania “SuperLawyer” in both Personal Injury and Criminal Defense and placed on their lists of the Top 100 Lawyers in Pennsylvania for more than a decade straight, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers, Top Rated Attorneys in Pennsylvania as published in The Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the The Legal Intelligencer, The National Advocacy for DUI Defense Top 100 Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Attorneys, and is a holder of Martindale-Hubbell’s prestigious “AV” rating and Client Distinction Award, designating preeminent lawyers based upon legal ability, ethics, and client satisfaction. He has been rated a perfect 10.0/10.0 on AVVO.COM and is one of a just 35 attorneys in Pennsylvania to be named a “Lawyer on the Fast Track” by The Legal Intelligencer in 2006. He has been named a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (awarded to less than one-half percent of judges, lawyers, and scholars in America), received the National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys Top 10 Attorney Award, and been named a Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer by the American Society of Legal Advocates. He has won many other awards for his trial work that are simply too numerous to list here.
He has successfully handled numerous civil (slip and fall, auto accidents, land development litigation, etc.) and criminal trials (narcotics, DUI, capital murder, robbery, rape, etc.). Prior to private practice, he worked on the Narcotics Team and the Major Crimes Team of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office from 1996 to 2000. He successfully argued for the death penalty in 1999 and was lead prosecutor in a case involving $55 million of cocaine. Subsequently, as a defense attorney, he took the appeal of a client sentenced to death and convinced the prosecutor to vacate the death sentence. He used forensic tire print evidence to prove another client not guilty of attempted murder. In yet another case he uncovered evidence which reduced the offer on a robbery case from 25–50 years down to 2 years probation. He represented one individual charged with 3 separate charges of DUI and had the first case dismissed at the Preliminary Hearing, the second accepted into the A.R.D. program, and the third case dismissed after a trial judge granted suppression of all evidence in the case. Mr. Fairlie has obtained not-guilty verdicts in major jury trials involving shootings, burglaries, rape, etc. despite positive eyewitness identifications of his clients. On appeal, he has successfully argued for reversal of a death sentence in one case and a sentence of 70 years in another case. Recent successful plea negotiations include 2 1/2 to 5 years in the case of a man who struck his wife in the head with a hammer and strangled her and 6 to 12 years in a First Degree Murder case.
Mr. Fairlie went to trial on a case involving more than $50 million of land transactions and settled the case in the second week of trial. He has obtained six-figure settlements in numerous personal injury cases, including car accident, back injury, and dog bite cases.
Mr. Fairlie often serves as a speaker or course planner for various organizations such as the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Annual (2007–2025) Criminal Law Symposium in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Montgomery and Bucks County Bar Associations, and various law enforcement training programs. He also teaches numerous other continuing legal education seminars for lawyers every year.
He earned his B.A. in Government and Law from Lafayette College in 1991 and his J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law in 1995 where he was a member of the Appellate Moot Court Board, the Environmental Law Journal, and a Chairman of the Student Bar Association. He has been Co-Chairman or Chairman of the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Criminal Defense Committee since 2001, a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Judiciary Committe and Trial Lawyers’ Section, a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee and Civil Litigation Section, a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Hotline Panel of Experts Committee, a member of the Montgomery County Sexual Assault Task Force, a member of The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and an Associate Member of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Mr. Fairlie’s areas of practice include personal injury, car accidents, criminal defense, and DUI defense.
Mr. Fairlie enjoys scuba-diving, hunting, fishing and coaching youth sports.
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Experience
Managing Partner
Fairlie & Lippy, PC
2009-Present
Admission
Pennsylvania
1995
U.S. Supreme Court
Education
Lafayette College
A.B.
1991
Recognitions & Achievements
Associations
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Member | Montgomery Bar Association
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Member | Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association
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Member | Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
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Member | Montgomery County Criminal Defense Committee
Honors / Awards
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Top-Rated Attorneys in Pennsylvania, The Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Legal Intelligencer2015
Questions & Answers
Please describe a case in the last year or two where you made a big difference.
I had a DUI case where my toxicologist was able to demonstrate that all of the substances my clients blood were either lawfully prescribed drugs or metabolites of the same drugs, within the normal therapeutic range, and that the alcohol in her system was not sufficient to cause unsafe driving, even in combination with the drugs. I also had a robbery case where my expert established that recently prescribed drugs had such an impact on my client's mental state that he was not aware of the nature of what he was doing and was essentially "sleepwalking."
What should clients look for in a lawyer?
Clients should look for independently awarded recognition of the lawyer from many different sources, such as client reviews, organizations that recognize attorney excellence, leadership in the local Bar Association, etc. many lawyers will state or lead a client to believe that they are the world's greatest lawyer. The only way for the client to verify this is to look at what other independent sources are saying about the lawyer. The best place to find this information is on the lawyer's website as I think it would be very hard for a lawyer to substantially misrepresent his background when his website is open to the public for verification. Obviously client reviews should be examined from other sources and client reviews on the lawyer's own website should be ignored. That is why we don't bother to put client testimonials on our own website. Obviously we would cherry pick the best reviews, so I don't think it really provides the client with anything useful.
How important is local knowledge to the success of your cases?
Local knowledge is often the key to success in my business. You need to know the likely outcome in the case from the beginning to be able to know what steps you can take to improve that likely outcome. I always tell clients who call me from outside my normal geographical practice area that they are better off with a local lawyer and I will refer them to one of the lawyers in my network of peers who is more familiar with that particular court. The only way I will take the case is if the client convinces me that there is a particular need for me to handle the case such as mistrust of the local lawyers (which is usually misplaced) or specialized experience in a niche area that few other lawyers are familiar with.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
Handling a case for a client who thought there was no chance of success and handing that client a dismissal, withdrawal of all charges, or not guilty verdict.
Additional Info
Founded 2009
Fairlie & Lippy, PC Highlights
Accident & Injury, Criminal, DUI-DWI, Car Accident, Wrongful Death
Firm Size:
1
Firm Locations:
1
Languages:
English
Steven F. Fairlie Esq. has been a Premium Member since April 07, 2016.
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