Attorney Profiles

I was born and raised in a small town just south of Macon, Georgia.  My father ran a service station/garage and I learned much of what I know about human nature from pumping gas and washing windshields in the 1960s.  I never had any doubt about what I wanted to be, a lawyer.  However, I must admit that it was not until I graduated from law school that I had any idea what kind of lawyer I wanted to be or could be.

After graduation, I got a job with a small firm in Lyons, Georgia that represented insurance companies and insureds in lawsuits arising out of automobile accidents, product liability and medical malpractice.  When I started practicing law in 1976, things were much simpler.  We typed 50 page briefs on an IBM Selectric typewriter and if you wanted to change something on page two, you had to retype the whole thing, I mean, the whole thing!  Today, with computers and all the programs that are available to lawyers, I can do the work of three lawyers before the age of computers.

My law partner, W. Ward Newton, died in 1981 and with five years experience I basically had to prove to my insurance clients that I was a good trial attorney or they would have taken their business elsewhere.  Ward was recognized as an excellent attorney, having moved to Toombs County in 1968 after practicing in the big city of Savannah, Georgia for years.  He was fearless in court and I never saw him intimated by another attorney or a judge for that matter.  He was also as honest as the day is long and gave his clients 110%.  When it comes to attitude and aggressiveness, I learned most of what I know from Ward Newton.

As I said, after Ward died, I had to prove myself.  I did.  I tried somewhere between 30 and 35 jury trials every year for the next few years.  I won most of the cases that I tried, but, win or lose, my clients were satisfied that they had gotten the best representation they could get.  My reputation and my practice increased.  Finally in 1988, two other attorneys and I formed bigger firm and over the next ten years we grew to a firm with twelve lawyers.

In the 1980s, medical malpractice litigation took off and the number of lawsuits increased dramatically.  I began representing the largest insurance companies in the State of Georgia who provided liability coverage for doctors and hospitals.  I tried dozens of cases and lost only two whose verdicts totaled $130,000.  I enjoyed representing doctors and learned a lot.  The main thing I learned was what plaintiff's lawyers did wrong in handling lawsuits against doctors.

In the mid 1990s, defense lawyers began to experience a lot of pressure from their insurance clients to work harder and charge less.  You may have represented an insurance company for 20 years, but if they could find another lawyer to do the work for $10 an hour cheaper, sometimes they would.  Insurance companies became dominated by accountants, the bean counters.  They knew nothing about litigation, only about how much it cost and they tried to punish their own lawyers as much as they tried to punish the people who sued them.

My father died, March 1998.  A few months after that, I decided that life was too short and decided to eliminate my dependence on insurance companies.  I boxed up and sent back cases I was handling on behalf of doctors and began representing patients who had been injured by doctor's negligence.

In 2000, I left the twelve-man firm and, together with another lawyer in the firm Robert L. Jenkins, formed Smith and Jenkins, P.C.  We are a small firm, but I believe we provide good legal representation.  I try to tell clients the truth even when it may not be what they want to hear.  Whether it concerns a malpractice claim against a doctor, a motor vehicle accident or some other injury, I believe that we have an inside track because we have represented both sides, insurance companies and injured people.  I hope you will consider choosing us if you need legal representation.