A. RUSSELL SMITH
519 Newnan Street
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
(904) 355-5633
[email protected]
A. Russell Smith is engaged in a trial practice, with emphasis in the areas of criminal defense in the Florida and Federal Courts and complex family litigation. Mr. Smith graduated from the University of South Florida in 1976, and received his Juris Doctor degree from the Spessard Holland Law Center at the University of Florida in 1979. He began his legal career in the Office of the Public Defender for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida, and has now been defending Floridians accused of crime and representing people in complex family law litigation for over thirty-six years. He and his law firm are A-V rated by Martindale Hubbell and he has received a Superior “10” rating from AVVO.com in both Criminal Defense and Family Law.
Mr. Smith served as the 2007-2008 President of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He has been a member of FACDL since 1988 and has been a Director and Officer since 1996. He received the FACDL President’s Award in 2000 and 2005, and is one of only two lawyers ever to win this prestigious award twice. The President’s Award is the highest award given to members of the Association.
Mr. Smith is also a charter member of the Florida Family Law Inn of Court, where he has received the designation of Master, the highest classification which can be bestowed. He has been a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator for over twenty-three years, and during that time, he has helped countless couples and their lawyers find creative solutions to their disputes.
Since 1981, Mr. Smith has served on the Board of Renaissance Behavioral Health Systems, a community-based provider of mental health services to the indigent. He is also a volunteer attorney for the Florida Innocence Initiative and The Innocence Project and participates in the Justice Teaching program sponsored by The Florida Bar. Mr. Smith is a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Jacksonville Youth Soccer Club and as President of the Board of Directors of the Jacksonville Jaguars Soccer Club.
Mr. Smith has lectured and published on topics including Legal Ethics, Legislation and the Practice of Law, The Relationship between Lawyers and the Media, Law and Technology, Federal Sentencing, and The Effects of the Criminal Justice System on Families and Children. The Florida Bar has approved his Legal Ethics lecture, “Ethical Problems Facing the Small Practice” for continuing education credit and he has lectured on The Politics of the Death Penalty at the Center for Policy Alternatives in Washington, D.C. He has appeared as a legal commentator on Court TV and The O’Reilly Factor, and was also a regular guest on The PollCats, a politics and public affairs program which aired on public television for more than ten years.
He has been married for more than twenty-eight years to the former Sharon Brennan, and they have two daughters, Emily and Hannah.
