Michel Leon Stone

Experienced personal injury and criminal defense attorney in Panama City

Attorney Michel L. Stone has practiced law in state and federal courts for over 30 years and has the highest peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Mike represents clients in trials and appeals as well as administrative proceedings. Currently his practice focuses on cases involving negligent injuries and wrongful deaths, insurance claims, and criminal defense.

Prior to forming the firm of Stone & Sutton, P.A., Mike Stone practiced with law firms in New York City, New York, and in Panama City, Florida, focusing on personal injury and wrongful death cases, white collar criminal cases, and civil litigation at his civil law office.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Mike Stone moved to Panama City, Florida, as a boy and graduated from Bay High School. He was valedictorian and president of the student body, and was named a Presidential Scholar by President Lyndon Johnson.

Mike graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. cum laude. He received a J.D. degree from New York University Law School, where he was named to the Order of the Coif and served as Editor in Chief of the Review of Law and Social Change.

During law school and for two years after graduation, Mike worked for a New York City firm focusing on white collar crime and civil litigation in federal courts as a public defender.

Mike moved back to Panama City and worked for the personal injury firm of Urquhart, Pittman, and Stone for 7 years before founding the firm of Stone & Sutton.

In addition, for 10 years, Mike Stone served part-time as an Assistant Public Defender, handling mainly serious felonies and death penalty cases. During this time, he was named Chief of the Capital Division for the 14th Judicial Circuit Office of the Public Defender.

Mike co-authored two chapters of the Florida Public Defender Association Death Penalty Manual and served on the death penalty steering committee of the Florida Public Defender Association.

With law partner Pam Sutton, Mike Stone was featured on CBS-TV’s “48 Hours” news program for winning the acquittal of a teenager suffering from Battered Child Syndrome who was charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of his father.

Mike served a 3 year term on the 14th Circuit Judicial Nominating Committee, as an appointee of the President of the Florida Bar.

Mike Stone has lectured on various topics at state death penalty conferences sponsored by Florida Public Defender Association and he was a principal presenter at a seminar for U.S. Navy and Marine JAG Officers at Camp LeJeune, NC.

He also has lectured at the Panama City campus of FSU, taught the unit on torts and personal injury law for a Bay High School law studies course, and has been the featured speaker at ACLU-sponsored functions. At the invitation of two retired local judges, Mike participates with them in teaching courses on constitutional law at Gulf Coast State College.

Mike Stone is admitted to practice in the state courts of Florida and New York; the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Florida and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; and the U.S. Court of Appeals, for the Fifth Circuit, the Eleventh Circuit, and the Federal Circuit.
Mike is a member of the American Association for Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.