Steven K Mignogna

Estate & Trust Litigation

Private Wealth, Estates & Trusts

Financial Institutions

Steve serves as Co-Chair of Archer’s Private Wealth, Estates & Trusts Group and Chair of the firm’s Estate and Trust Litigation Group. He focuses on commercial litigation, including probate matters involving estates, trusts, gifts, fiduciaries, guardianships, and real estate, and handles cases in both state and federal courts at the trial and appellate levels. Steve represents a wide range of clients, including banks, corporate fiduciaries, investment companies, educational and charitable institutions, real estate firms, and individual beneficiaries, executors, trustees, guardians, incapacitated persons, surviving spouses, and other interested parties.

Steve serves on the Advisory Committee of the Heckerling Institute. He is also highly active in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), where he is a Fellow and serves on its Executive Committee. He has held numerous ACTEC leadership roles, including State Chair for New Jersey, the Board of Regents, and Chair of the Fiduciary Litigation Committee. He has also been active on the Program Committee, the Joint Task Force with the National College of Probate Judges, and the Advisory Committee to ACTEC’s Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute.

Within the American Bar Association (ABA), Steve has held leadership positions in the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section, including Chair of the Litigation, Ethics, and Malpractice Group; Chair of that Group’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and Probate and Fiduciary Litigation Committee; Section Liaison to the Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee; and member of several administrative committees.

Steve is a recognized national lecturer and author. He has spoken and published for ACTEC, the Heckerling Institute, the National College of Probate Judges, the New Jersey Bar Association, the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education Group, the ABA, the Duke University Estate Planning Conference, the Delaware Trust Conference, and estate planning councils across the country. He is the main author of the treatise Estate and Trust Litigation and serves as editor and contributing author of The New Jersey Estate Planning Manual and New Jersey Probate Procedures Manual. Steve was honored by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education with its Distinguished Service Award and is a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a national honorary society for trial lawyers.

Steve has been with Archer since joining the firm as a law clerk and has remained deeply engaged in the legal profession and the broader community. He is active in charitable and civic organizations, including the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation, the Chevaliers du Tastevin, and the Knights of Columbus. He has been recognized for his professional and civic contributions with numerous awards, including the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation’s Community Champion, the Camden County Bar Association Professional Lawyer of the Year, and the Excalibur Award from the Bishop Eustace Preparatory School Alumni Association.

Advisory Committee, Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning

ACTEC Executive Committee

Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)

ACTEC State Chair for New Jersey

Former Chair, ACTEC Fiduciary Litigation Committee

ACTEC Board of Regents

Member, ACTEC Program Committee, Joint Task Force and the National College of Probate Judges

Member, Senior Advisory Committee, ACTEC Mid-Atlantic Fellows Institute

American Bar Association, Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section; Chair, Litigation, Ethics and Malpractice Group; Chair, Litigation, Ethics and Malpractice Group Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee; Chair, Probate and Fiduciary Litigation Committee; Section Liaison to the ABA Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee; and Groups and Substantive Committees Advisor

Professional Member, National College of Probate Judges

Senior Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America, The Trial Lawyer Honorary Society

Board of Trustees, Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation

“Challenges for Probate Judges: Trust Investments and Diversification,” National College of Probate Judges Fall Journal (September 2020)

Main author of the treatise, Estate and Trust Litigation

Editor and contributing author, The New Jersey Estate Planning Manual and New Jersey Probate Procedures Manual, New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education

Knights of Columbus

Tavistock Country Club

Chevaliers du Tastevin

Rutgers University School of Law

JD

St. Joseph’s University

BA

Best Lawyers®: Litigation – Trusts and Estates; Trusts and Estates (2007-2026 Editions)

Best Lawyers®

Recognized by Best Lawyers®: “Lawyer of the Year” - Trusts and Estates in Cherry Hill, NJ

Best Lawyers®:

2025

Recognized by Best Lawyers®: “Lawyer of the Year” - Litigation - Trusts and Estates in Philadelphia, PA

Best Lawyers®

2013

Named to New Jersey Super Lawyers list for Estate & Trust Litigation (2005 - 2025)

Super Lawyers