Wendy Klarman Weiss

Wendy was born May 29, 1952 in Newark, New Jersey. She is the second of three daughters. In 1956, she moved to Livingston, New Jersey, where she spent the majority of her early life.

In 1970, Wendy left New Jersey and headed for Ohio (the only state that is “round” at both ends and “hi” in the middle). She enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, School of Education. She graduated in 1974 with a degree in education and the Lillian Stone Award for excellence. She began teaching fourth through sixth grades in Cincinnati. In 1977, she moved to Orlando, Florida and continued her elementary school teaching. In 1981, Wendy felt her students were getting “shortchanged” as too much time was spent on administrative matters and not enough time on teaching. Wendy chose this time to move back to New Jersey and change careers. By the way, Wendy still gets calls from students she taught in Cincinnati and Orlando.

Back in New Jersey, Wendy began her insurance career. She worked as a workers’ compensation claim representative and claim supervisor for the Home Insurance Company. During this time, Wendy was provided a first class medical and legal education.

In 1985, Wendy joined the Medical Inter-Insurance Exchange of New Jersey, a physician owned and managed medical malpractice company. She remained there as a medical liability claims representative until 1991. She was responsible for handling medical malpractice claims in Essex, Hudson and Union counties in New Jersey. This included administering the claims from inception to disposition. Her responsibilities included reviewing medical records and other documentation in evaluating liability, causation and damages, assigning defense counsel, securing defense experts, formulating case strategy, setting reserves, negotiating, preparing defendants and defense experts for deposition and trial, attending depositions and sitting “second chair” at trial.

Wendy recognized the fact that the defense was successfully defending over 80% of the cases that went to trial and closed about 70% of the balance without making a payment. Wendy believed that she could help plaintiff attorneys select cases that would ultimately lead to a successful conclusion. So in February 1991, Wendy became an entrepreneur and created Second Opinion, Inc. In 1998, Wendy expanded Second Opinion by opening an office in Smithtown, New York. Since inception, Wendy and her staff have worked on thousands of cases with over 450 plaintiff attorneys in 32 states.