Suzelle M. Smith is a
partner and co-founder of the Los Angeles law firm of Howarth &
Smith. Ms. Smith has extensive complex litigation, professional
malpractice, products liability, and business law experience and
has tried numerous cases to verdict, representing both
plaintiffs and defendants. Some of her cases include the Estate
of Doris Duke matter, antitrust litigation against the NFL, an
attorney general action against the tobacco industry, breach of
contract claims for the Vatican Library, custodian of Vatican
art, claims brought against a major polluter by the
citizens of a residential area, copyright claims against major
film studios, breach of contract actions against major Fortune
100 companies on behalf of former executives, and terrorist
cases, including actions brought by the families of the victims
of the 911 events against Ben Laden, Al-Qaida, and state
sponsors of terrorism, among others. Ms. Smith was selected one
of the top ten litigators in the United States for 1997 by the
National Law Journal; in 2004 she was named as one of “America’s
Top 50 Women Litigators,” and in 2004 and 2005 she was named as
one of California’s “SuperLawyers.”
Ms. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude, with
special distinction in Political Science, in 1975 from Boston
University and a Master of Philosophy in 1977 from Oxford
University. From 1978 to 1980, she served as a Legislative
Assistant to United States Senator Howell Heflin. In 1983, she
received her Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School
of Law, Order of the Coif.
Ms. Smith is admitted to practice in the States of California
and Washington and the District of Columbia, as well as the
United States District Court (Central, Southern and Northern
Districts of California), United States District Court, District
of Colorado, the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit,
Tenth Circuit, and the United States District Court, District of
Columbia.
Ms. Smith is an elected Fellow and member of the Board of
Directors of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers; an
elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; an elected Fellow
of the International Society of Barristers; an elected member of
the American Board of Trial Advocates; a member of the
Association of Trial Lawyers of America, California Trial
Lawyers Association, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and
the Inns of Court where she served as President of the LA-West
Chapter in 1996. She was appointed to the Los Angeles Legal Aid
Board of Advisors in 2000. She is a member of the American Bar
Association (Member, Litigation Section and Member, Toxic Torts
Section), the California State Bar Association (Continuing
Education of the Bar Committee), the Los Angeles County Bar
Association (Federal Courts Committee, Appellate Subcommittee
Chairperson).
Ms. Smith maintains an active commitment to legal scholarship
and continuing legal education. In Spring 1994 and 1996, she
gave lectures in the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. She
is a Lecturer in Law and Visiting Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall,
Oxford University, England, a Visiting Scholar at New Hall
College, Cambridge University, England, and has served as
Adjunct Professor of Trial Practice at Pepperdine University
School of Law in Malibu, California. She is also a Trustee of
the University of Virginia Law School, a member of the Board of
Visitors of Pepperdine Law School, a member of the Board of
Trustees of Viewpoint School, a member of the Advisory Council
of The American Ditchley Foundation, and has served on the Board
of Trustees, Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA. She is
the President of the Malibu Labor Exchange Board of Trustees.
Ms. Smith has been a regular speaker at the California State
Bar’s annual convention, and is featured in a State Bar video on
the subject of trial skills. She frequently lectures on trial
practice and evidence for the American Trial Lawyers
Association, The Defense Research Institute and The Rutter
Group. Ms. Smith has also testified before the United States
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Administrative
Practice.
Ms. Smith is the co-author of Case Assessment and Evaluation
with Don Howarth, published in 1989 by Callaghan Publishing
Company, a litigation practice book. She has been a member of
the Lawyer Alert Board of Experts as its adviser on trial
practice and procedure. Ms. Smith's articles include “Two
Appellate Courts Dictate New Class Action Jurisprudence,” Class
Action Jurisprudence (June 1996), “Partnership Divorces:
Principles and Pitfalls in Partnership Law,” Los Angeles Lawyer
(December 1994), “Landlord’s Liability for Criminal Acts by
Third Parties - A New Test,” Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy,
Vol. 6, No. 12 (May 1994), "Rules Governing Demonstrative
Evidence At Trial: A Practitioners Guide," Western State
University Law Review, Vol. 20, No. 1 (1992), and "Litigation-
Society's Pressure Valve," Christian Legal Society Quarterly,
Vol. 9 (1988).
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