Education
J.D., University of Michigan, 1989
B.A., University of Michigan, 1985
Postal Career
Prior to joining Wheeler Upham, P.C., in 2002, Mr. Smith served as in-house counsel with the United States Postal Service in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia. He was the recipient of numerous awards and letters of commendation. Mr. Smith served on the Postal Law Department and Southeast\Southwest Areas' Revenue Protection Committees and the Law Department's Environmental\Facilities and Diversity Committees.
Mr. Smith's career with the U.S. Postal Service began in 1989. He was initially assigned to the General Administrative Law Division at postal headquarters. His responsibilities included the drafting of Private Express Statute opinion letters, processing both Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act appeals, and handling ethics matters. Mr. Smith also handled district and appellate court litigation arising out of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act requests. The knowledge of the Postal Service and its statutory framework, regulations, management structure, and record storage\retention policies that Mr. Smith developed in this assignment has served him well throughout his postal career and in private practice.
In 1991, Mr. Smith transferred to Atlanta to serve as field counsel. Over the next eleven years, he supported local postal management in a wide variety of areas, including contract administration, contract claims litigation, tort defense, customer service issues, collection of revenue deficiencies, information requests, ethics questions, mail disputes, postal customer council issues, labor and employment issues, media relations, environmental matters, mode of delivery issues at residences and business, bankruptcy matters, and local and state governmental relations. Mr. Smith was frequently called upon to provide training to local management on a variety of these issues. He is an expert on federal question jurisdiction involving the government and postal regulations in general.
Wheeler Upham
Mr. Smith is a shareholder of Wheeler Upham, one of Michigan's oldest and most prestigious firms. Since joining Wheeler Upham, Mr. Smith has specialized in employment matters and in representing postal and other federal employees in EEO, MSPB and FECA matters, in particular. His litigation practice also includes employment, construction, government contract tort, and real estate cases. He advises clients in the areas of employment law, business law, business formation, contracts, and real estate.
Areas of Legal Practice and Specialties:
Federal sector employment law, labor and employment law, business law, government contracts, construction, civil litigation, torts, real estate, collections, business formations and postal revenue deficiencies.
Litigation Experience
Federal sector employment law, contract claims, construction law (including differing site conditions and change order claims), lease disputes, discrimination claims, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), employment law, government contracts, personal injury and property damage claims, real estate disputes, condemnation matters, bankruptcy, appeals, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Privacy Act of 1974.
Articles
Mr. Smith is the author of A Trap for the Unwary, an article about mail disputes, which was published in The Michigan Bar Journal , 81 Mich B.J. 3 (March 2002). Mr. Smith also authored Bankruptcy Appeals: Preserving Your Right of Review,which was published in The Michigan Bar Journal, 81 Mich B.J. 9 (September 2002).
Professional Organizations\Admissions
State Bar of Michigan
Grand Rapids Bar Association
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
State Bar of Michigan Labor and Employment Law Section
Grand Rapids Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section (Past Chariman)
Grand Rapids Jaycees - 2003-2004 Legal Counsel
Polish Heritage Society of Grand Rapids
Swedish-American Heritage Society of West Michigan