Michael A. Malia, a Partner with Peri Stewart Malia, is a seasoned trial attorney with more than two decades of wide-ranging first chair experience, trying more than 50 cases. He is a zealous advocate who is an “outside the box” strategist. Clients rely upon Mr. Malia’s ability to rapidly analyze large amounts of information and see the big picture, to determine which course of action is most beneficial.
PRACTICE AREAS AND EXPERIENCE: Mr. Malia has a diverse and selective litigation and trial practice, counseling and representing individuals and business entities, including Fortune 100 companies, in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. He has represented clients in complex litigation; fraud suits: insurance, healthcare, financial and consumer; anti-bullying and education law matters; commercial litigation and business contract disputes; personal injury cases; insurance coverage disputes; employment litigation; and product liability suits. Mr. Malia has litigated complex cases in state and federal courts. He also has experience as an Adviser in Princeton University’s External Adviser Program. Mr. Malia has taken jury trials to verdict in North, Central and South Jersey. He was lead trial counsel, successfully representing plaintiff insurance companies in a six-month trial, resulting in multimillion dollar judgments against ten defendants for violating the New Jersey Insurance Fraud Prevention Act- Allstate New Jersey Ins. Co., et al. and the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance v. Gregorio Lajara, et al. He was also lead trial counsel, successfully representing plaintiff insurance companies, in a trial against a pharmacy and five individuals resulting in a unanimous jury verdict finding all six defendants liable for violating the New Jersey Insurance Fraud Prevention Act. Mr. Malia also has extensive appellate experience, authoring appellate briefs on a wide range of issues and arguing before the New Jersey Appellate Division, the New Jersey Supreme Court and the Pennsylvania Superior Court.
(Mr. Malia arguing before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of his client, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud)
THREE BOARD CERTIFICATIONS: Mr. Malia is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney; Certified in Civil Trial Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy; and Certified in Civil Pretrial Practice Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.*
AWARDS: The New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law named Mr. Malia a “Professional Lawyer of the Year” in 2020. Mr. Malia received the Attorney of the Year Award from the New Jersey Defense Association in 2020. He also received DRI’s Exceptional Performance Citation in 2020 and DRI’s State Leadership Award in 2024.
HONORS: Mr. Malia was selected to the list of AV® Preeminent™ rated lawyers from Martindale-Hubbell; and was selected to the New Jersey Super Lawyers list for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and selected to the New Jersey Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. He was selected as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA). The AV® Preeminent™ rating is conferred by Martindale-Hubbell. A description of the selection methodology can be found here. The Super Lawyers lists are issued by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology for both lists may be found here. A description of the selection methodology for the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) may be found here.**
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: Mr. Malia is a court-appointed arbitrator for the Ocean County Superior Court’s mandatory civil division arbitration program. He is also a member of the Ocean County Bar Association. Mr. Malia is currently a Regional Director for DRI and was previously DRI’s New Jersey State Representative. He is a Member of the State Legislation and Rules Task Force within the DRI Center for Law and Public Policy. Mr. Malia has also held several leadership positions in the New Jersey Defense Association (NJDA), including Chairperson of the Board (2020-2021); President (2019-2020); President-Elect and Editor-in-Chief of the New Jersey Defense (2018-2019); Secretary/Treasurer (2017-2018); and as a member of the Board of Directors (2015-2017). He is the Chair of the NJDA’s ADR Committee and founded the Fraud Committee, having been its only Chair since inception. He attended DRI’s 2019 Leadership Conference in Chicago; and has attended DRI’s Annual Meetings, as well as the NJDA’s Annual Conventions. Mr. Malia has also had many speaking engagements on a variety of legal topics throughout his career, including, by way of example: at the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Annual Meeting and Convention; at the New Jersey Special Investigator’s Association’s (NJSIA) Annual Seminar, as well as the New Jersey Insurance Fraud Summit; at the NJDA’s Annual Convention, as well as at the NJDA’s ADR Seminar; and for New Jersey ICLE. He has also been an instructor for several years at the NJDA’s Trial College.
EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL ADMISSIONS: Mr. Malia received an LL.M. (Master of Laws) degree in Trial Advocacy from Temple University Beasley School of Law and received his law degree (JD) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is an honors graduate of the University of Scranton. Mr. Malia completed the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance’s (CLM) Litigation Management Institute (LMI) hosted at Columbia Law School in New York City. Mr. Malia is admitted to practice law in the state courts of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. He is also admitted to practice before the District Court of New Jersey, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. *The State of New Jersey Certification is not granted by any governmental authority within the State of New York and the National Board of Trial Advocacy Certifications are not granted by any governmental authority. **No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.