S. Christie Smith IV

S. Christie Smith IV

Managing Attorney

318.308.7667

S. Christie Smith IV is the managing attorney for the Louisiana Expungement Assistance & Advocacy Center, a division of his private law practice that offers legal services to clients needing criminal expungements throughout Louisiana.

In his primary practice, he sits at the helm of a regional Louisiana law firm originally established in 1911 to represent laborers--and too often their widows and children--who were harmed by the burgeoning and unregulated timber industry in the rural South.

Mr. Smith's work today is the modern extension of that century-old practice, in a broader, litigation-based platform. As a consumer advocate and lawyer-in-the-trenches, he has spent his career representing regular people in the fight for safer working conditions, reliable products, civil rights, and fair access to the courts. His practice focuses on litigating wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases and defending individuals in the most serious types of criminal charges or in cases where their Constitutional rights have been intentionally or systemically abridged. He has tried cases across the Gulf South in state and federal court, from personal injury and damage claims to first degree murder and narcotics trafficking.  The Louisiana Expungement Assistance and Advocacy Center originated as a means to service the legal needs of his vast client base of former criminal defendants but quickly grew to serve statewide clients of other attorneys, as well.

He is one of the few lawyers dually board-certified in both criminal and civil trial advocacy by the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification; has been recognized in the "Top 50 Louisiana SuperLawyers" List published by Thomson-Reuters SuperLawyers Magazine; holds an "AV--Preeminent" rating, the highest rating available from the Martindale-Hubbell Directory of Attorneys; and is named to Wooodward-White's Best Lawyers in America. He is widely-published and frequently lectures in the legal community or testifies before the legislature on emerging issues in trial and Constitutional law.

S. CHRISTIE SMITH IV

Honors and Awards

• Inducted, Multi-Million Dollar Advocates' Forum
• Inducted, Million Dollar Advocates’ Forum
• Awarded "AV--Preeminent" Legal Ability Rating, Martindale-Hubbell® Law Directory
• Named to "100 Top Trial Lawyers" (Louisiana), The National Trial Lawyers
• Named to "Top 50" Louisiana Super Lawyers, SuperLawyers®, Thomson-Reuters
• Selected for inclusion, The Best Lawyers in America©, Woodward-White Publishing
• Selected for inclusion, Super Lawyers®, Thomson-Reuters Publishing

Bar/Professional Activity

• Chairman, Legislative Committee, Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Chairman (past), Criminal Law Section, Louisiana Association for Justice
• Amicus Curiae Committee, Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Diplomat, The National Trial Lawyers
• Governor (past), Board of Governors, Louisiana Association for Justice
• Delegate (past), House of Delegates, Louisiana State Bar Association
• Governor (past), Board of Governors, Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association;
• President (past), Thirtieth Judicial District Bar Association
• Admitted, United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
• Admitted, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
• Admitted, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
• Admitted, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Admitted, United States Court of Federal Claims
• Admitted, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Admitted, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
• Admitted, United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana
• Admitted, United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
• Admitted, Supreme Court of the United States
• Admitted, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Admitted, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Admitted, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Admitted, United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
• Admitted, Coushatta Tribal Court
• Licensed to practice, Washington, D.C.
• Licensed to practice, Louisiana

Pro bono/Community Service

• Board of Directors, CenLa Pro Bono Project
• Board of Directors, Louisiana Bar Foundation, Central Community Panel
• Grants Committee, Louisiana Bar Foundation
• Board of Directors (past), Acadiana Legal Services Corporation (Pro-Bono legal services)
• Board of Directors (past), Vernon Parish Arts Council
• Fellow, Louisiana Bar Foundation
• Counsel (pro bono) Vernon Parish Tourism Commission
• Counsel (pro bono) Leesville Historic District

Scholarly Lectures and Writings

• Author, Lecturer, "'The Tao of Llello,' or, 'Commoditization, Vertical Integration, and the Six Sigma® of Modern Narcotics Production and Trafficking: American Graduate Business Theory Deployed into Criminal Enterprises,'" Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, 2016
• Author, Lecturer, "Recent Developments and Legislation," Sex Offense Seminar, Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 2016.
• Author, Lecturer, "The Safeguards of Liberty are Frequently Forged in Disputes Involving Not-very-nice People," Central Louisiana Pro Bono Project, 2014
• Author, Lecturer, "Discovery Practice Against Government Entities--the 'Touhy Situation'," Louisiana Association for Justice, 2013
• Lecturer, Author, "Hedonic Damages: Giving Meaning to 'Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness'," Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, 2013
• Speaker, Author, "The Word 'Automobile' Is Not a Talisman in Whose Presence the Fourth Amendment Fades Away and Disappears," Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, 2009
• Speaker, Author, "The Collateral Source Rule in Retreat," Louisiana Association For Justice, 2008
• Speaker, Author, "Constitutional Considerations in Trial Practice," Central Louisiana Pro Bono Project, 2007
• Speaker, Author,"Straining Patriotism Under the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT ACT)," Fort Polk Judge Advocate General's Continuing Legal Education, 2005
• Speaker, Author,"'Colossus' and other Fallen Wonders," Office Of The Staff Judge Advocate, 2004
• Author, Lecturer, "Recent Developments in Personal Injury Law," Louisiana Association For Justice, 2002
• Speaker, Author, "Understanding the 'Minor Impact Soft Tissue' Injury Defense," Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, 2001
• Speaker, Author, "Nuts and Bolts of Appellate Argument", Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, 1999

Verdicts and Settlements

The Louisiana Rules of Professional Responsibility prohibit--or at least strongly discourage--reference to specific dollar-amount recoveries; however, they do not preclude an attorney listing his membership in organizations such as the Million (and Multi-million) Dollar Advocates' Forums, which are exclusively reserved for trial attorneys who have obtained million-dollar and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for their clients (that have actually been paid).  Mr. Smith is a member of both organizations.

Representative Clients

By far, the largest portion of Mr. Smith's clients are regular people in trouble; however, when not inconsistent with our primary mission, we will occasionally take institutional clients for a specific matter, usually one that presents a novel legal issue, a Constitutional question, or one that has the potential for setting precedent across a wide spectrum of disputes.