John Cash “Jack” Smith grew up in Orange, Texas, and graduated from Lutcher Stark High School in 1957. He graduated from Baylor University in 1961 and from the University of Texas School of Law in 1964. After briefly practicing in Austin, Jack moved back to Orange in 1966 where he has continuously been in private practice ever since. During his over 50 years of law practice, Mr. Smith has focused his practice on personal injury law, civil litigation and commercial litigation. He has tried hundreds of cases to jury verdicts and has tried cases all over the State of Texas. During his legal career, Mr. Smith has represented thousands of individuals and families injured or harmed by the misconduct of others. He has also handled numerous complex civil cases including contract disputes, insurance coverage issues, tax evaluations, wrongful foreclosures, and large property damage cases. From 1966, he practiced in private partnerships in Orange before joining the firm of Mehaffy Weber in 1981 where he was a senior partner until 2003 when he left to practice law with his son Chris. Jack is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a designation achieved by less than 2% of Texas attorneys. He has been named a Texas Monthly Super Lawyer six times and continuously since 2010. Mr. Smith has achieved an AV Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the premier rating a lawyer can receive from his peers for legal ability and ethics. Jack has served as City Attorney for the City of Orange since 1992. He has served as lead litigation counsel for the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. He is past president of the Orange County Bar Association and is a fellow in the Texas Bar Foundation. Mr. Smith has made numerous continuing legal education presentations and has written articles on personal injury trial law. Mr. Smith is very active in the Orange community and in his church. He is presently a member of the Orange Kiwanis Club, is on the Board of Directors of the Lamar State College Orange Foundation, and the past Chairman of the Board for the Nelda C. & H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. He is a deacon at Calder Baptist Church in Beaumont, Texas. He served for eight years on the Administrative Committee of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, two years as Chairman, and is past chairman of the Board of the Texas Baptist Laity Institute.

Mr. Smith is a highly-experienced securities lawyer, chief compliance officer, and business attorney with over 23 years of experience strengthening the legal and compliance functions of investment advisers, broker-dealers, and investment vehicles. He has also represented companies at all stages of maturity with their capital and debt raising efforts via private offerings and public offerings. He has also served as Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for NorthRock Partners LLC and Virtue Capital Management LLC; Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of RIA Compliance Firm LLC, and Founder and Managing Attorney for LawVisory. He previously served as Chief Compliance Officer of Griffin Capital Company LLC and Research Affiliates LLC, where he also served as Assistant General Counsel.

Area of Practice: Government Law

Thomas Smith combines business acumen, entrepreneurial drive and legal expertise in his practice representing institutional and individual clients in connection with real estate, business, development and local government matters. As a founder and current Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Westchester Bank, Mr. Smith helped the bank grow from the 5700th largest bank in the country with $22 million in capital, to the 900th largest bank with $850 million in capital in ten years. Acting as both developer and attorney, Mr. Smith is directly involved in the rejuvenation of downtown Yonkers and spearheaded the redevelopment of SoNo Corporate Center, a major component of the revitalization of South Norwalk, Connecticut. This diverse experience allows him to provide unique perspective to clients in connection with conveyances, leasing and financing of office, multifamily and retail properties and the formulation and implementation of development plans involving subdivision approvals, zoning changes, site plan approvals and variance applications. Mr. Smith previously managed properties in prime and emerging markets which were in the process of converting to cooperative and condominium ownership. Since then, he has represented of sponsors of dozens of cooperative, condominium and HOA conversion and new construction offering plans and numerous tenants associations in connection with such plans. Drawing on his hands on experience in every aspect of the creation and management of these organizations, Mr. Smith serves as general counsel to multiple cooperative, condominium and HOA Boards in the five boroughs of New York and Westchester involving luxury properties with international ownership, properties in emerging markets, and affordable housing properties subject to Federal and state regulation. Mr. Smith works with all types of business structures, including limited liability companies and unincorporated entities, to publicly traded corporations from formation and capital generation stages to implementation of business plans, governance issues and regulatory compliance. Collaborating with other firm attorneys, Mr. Smith handles a broad range of transactions, employment and executive matters, trademark applications and general contract negotiations working with in house counsel and frequently serving as outside general counsel. Mr. Smith provides similar services to not-for profit companies. Mr. Smith serves regularly on multiple community, professional and not for profit boards including among others, Yonkers Partners in Education, Theaterworks USA, the Mount Kisco Zoning Board and Recreation Commission, the Martin Act Task Force and the Bedford Central School District Construction Steering Committee.

Mr. Smith has many years of courtroom and trial litigation experience trying simple to serious, complex cases. In the Appellate Court, he argued before the Georgia Supreme Court in State v. Kenneth Williams (S19G0005).