NEWS ARTICLES
Daily Press
October 13, 1997
HIGH PROFILE: STEPHEN SMITH
LAWYER USES MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE TO WIN BIGSmith's father, Joseph Smith, was a single practitioner who started the family's firm, Joseph Smith Ltd. - Attorneys for the Injured, in 1949; his wife, Marian Smith, was his office manager. Joseph Smith died in 1994.
Stephen Smith, 49, has become one of the leading lawyers of brain injury law. He said his interest in the field may have to do with his father's wish that he go into medicine. Smith said his interest in brain injuries also may stem from the fact that perhaps, subconsciously, he's disappointed he's not a doctor. ``But I've always been fascinated by medicine, and I've made an overt effort to learn as much about medicine as possible,'' he said. ``I've been doing this for 15 years, and I think I'm really good at what I do when I concentrate on one thing.''
After receiving his degree in psychology at the College of William & Mary in 1971, Smith earned his law degree at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law in 1974. While earning his degrees, he worked as a waiter. Smith said his father not only encouraged, but demanded, that he and his siblings work during their college years. Upon graduation, instead of joining his father's practice, Smith chose to practice law in New York. There, he did political and criminal law and even worked as Henry Rothblatt's trial associate. Rothblatt, who died in 1985, was a New York trial lawyer who worked with F. Lee Bailey. For two years, Smith found himself involved in several high-profile cases. He worked with Rothblatt on the case of the five Cubans arrested during the Watergate break-in in 1972; he handled John and Martha Mitchell's divorce; and he even spent time handling appeals in the Serpico case during the Knapp Commission Hearings. Despite the excitement Smith said he found in New York, he returned to Virginia in 1977. By then, his brother, Howard, and their brother-in-law, Stephen Pitler, had joined his father's firm.
The office wasn't in a skyrise building with plate-glass windows, and it had no fancy signs out front. But to Smith, it was home. ``I swore I would never come back to Hampton Roads,'' he said. ``But my father made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and there was an unlimited opportunity to do trial work.'' What Smith didn't realize at the time, however, was that practicing law in Virginia was different from practicing in New York. ``In New York, lawyers are hard-hitting and aggressive, so when I began practicing in Virginia, I did it in an aggressive manner,'' he said. ``Judges that didn't know me didn't particularly like me. ``That doesn't mean they like me now,'' he said jokingly. ``But now, some 20 years later, I think we share a mutual respect, which is to say I've tempered myself.'' Norfolk attorney Thomas Shuttleworth said people either like Smith or they don't; there is no in-between. ``I've known him as an adversary, as a co-counsel and as a client, and I think he's a lightening rod,'' said Shuttleworth, who has known Smith for 20 years. (Citing client-confidentiality, he refused to say why Smith had hired him.) ``He combines common sense with intellect, and he's not afraid to advocate for his client's position, even at the risk of ticking off a judge.''
``I think some people see Stephen as having a hard edge, but my experience, on a personal level, is that he has a heart of gold,'' he said. ``He's got a quick wit and a sharp tongue, but he cares about his client.'' While he may have mellowed a bit, Smith remains a bundle of tightly wrapped energy. He's constantly on the move, his mind is always two steps ahead and his quick wit often catches people off guard. But what drives him to be successful like his father are the clients who pass through their office. ``Our clients trust us; they trusted him,'' Smith said, referring to his father. ``He set the standard that the clients' needs come before the lawyers', and that's the way it's always been here,'' he said. ``Unfortunately, the majority of the legal profession doesn't abide by that, but we always have and we always will.''
Guy Daugherty, Smith's friend and mentor, attributes Smith's success to his drive and his personality. ``He has a desire to be a trial lawyer,'' Daugherty said. ``Everything I've seen him do and point toward is to improve his efficiency and knowledge, and to stand up and represent people who have been hurt or who are in trouble. He's very concerned about that.'' Smith's compassion for his clients becomes evident when he talks about their cases. It's heartbreaking, he said, to see clients' reactions when they learn there is a reason their behavior may have changed so drastically after an accident. ``Some of my clients don't even know they have a brain injury until they walk into this office,'' Smith said. Such was the case of Betty Christine of Hampton. Christine, a former Hampton sheriff's deputy, suffered a brain injury in 1993 when the car in which she was a passenger was hit by a Newport News waterworks truck. The accident left her with memory loss and suffering from seizures. She also lost her job at the sheriff's department. But Christine said she lost a lot more. ``I've lost friends over this. They knew I had brain injury and they would make fun of me,'' she said. ``They would say something jokingly and I would take it wrong. I would also be very irritable and the slightest things would set me off.''
Her friends didn't understand what was wrong with her, she said, but Smith did. ``I had really low self-esteem ... and Stephen made me feel like I was somebody,'' she said. ``When I would go in and talk to him, it was like he knew what was the matter with me. He was very comforting and very compassionate, and he would always call to check to make sure I was doing OK.''
This summer, Smith got the City of Newport News to pay Christine $1.5 million. The out-of-court settlement was one of the city's most expensive to date. The funds came directly out of its tax money because the city is self-insured. ``He did get me a lot of money, but I didn't really care about the money. I still don't care about it,'' Christine said. ``I just wanted to get my health and life back together, and he did that for me.''
Smith said he became interested in brain injury law after reading in medical legal journals that it is the most misunderstood area of law. He is proud of the work he has done in that area. He has been instrumental in raising awareness to the problem, and he has won millions for his clients who suffer from it. In one case, he netted his client $4.1 million. That is considered one of the highest awards ever for a closed brain injury.
Smith also lectures on the subject and is the member of several brain injury associations. He also is the vice chairman of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association's Neurolaw Committee, which is charged with the task of determining ways to better educate other lawyers about brain injury. Smith said his knowledge of medicine, though limited, and his knowledge of psychology and brain injury have given him tremendous insight into the field. He also said he has learned a lot from his friend Daugherty, who has practiced personal injury law for 40 years, and from Dr. Bernard Morewitz, a Hampton optometrist he has known most of his life.
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Attorneys:
Joeseph Smith • Howard P. Smith • Stephen H. Pitler • Stephen M. Smith • J. F. Hoen