Randall A. Smith

Randall A. Smith is a veteran trial lawyer and the founder and managing partner of Smith & Fawer, LLC, a boutique litigation firm, which focuses on providing excellent trial counsel for both plaintiffs and defendants in complex cases. Mr. Smith's litigation experience is broad, with a special emphasis on business and commercial litigation, takings/eminent domain litigation, and white collar criminal defense. Having obtained many successful judgments and successfully defended against many claims and prosecutions, Mr. Smith has earned his reputation as an assertive, creative, and focused trial counsel.

Mr. Smith was born in New York and raised in Geneva, Switzerland and Washington D.C. His father, Robert S. Smith, was a lifelong diplomat who served, among other posts, on the National Security Council and as the United States Ambassador to The Ivory Coast. His mother, Sally L. Smith, was a pioneer in the field of learning disabilities, who founded The Lab School of Washington, authored ten books in the field, and was a tenured professor at American University.Mr. Smith is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Amherst College and Yale Law School who moved to New Orleans to serve as a law clerk to the Honorable Charles Schwartz, Jr., United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. After completing his clerkship, Mr. Smith accepted a position with the Stone Pigman law firm, where he was named partner after five years. In the mid-1990s, Mr. Smith left the partnership to pursue his vision and start Smith & Fawer, LLC.

In addition to his practice, Mr. Smith has been active in numerous bar organizations and has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola University's School of Law for some thirty (30) years, teaching courses on business litigation and white collar crime every year, in addition to lecturing at many seminars locally and nationally, particularly in the area of eminent domain. Mr. Smith was also selected as the sole Louisiana member of the Owners' Counsel of America, a national association of experienced property rights and eminent domain attorneys, and served recently as its Chair for two (2) years.

Mr. Smith is a community leader committed to New Orleans, who works tirelessly for the betterment and improvement of the City, particularly in the area of the arts, where he supports a wide variety of creative projects. Mr. Smith served for over a decade as President of the Canal Street Development Corporation ("CSDC"), a public benefit corporation dedicated to stimulating business development and the adaptive reuse of Canal Street, including bringing back the Saenger Theater following Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Smith has also committed his time and resources to improving childhood education in the City in various ways, including piloting and funding the Judgment Call project for elementary school children through a grant to the Junior League of New Orleans and serving on the board of different schools.