Jeffrey L. Smith

Mr. Smith, a shareholder with Sanders & Parks, joined the Firm in January of 2006. Mr. Smith concentrates his practice on a broad range of tort litigation matters including personal and catastrophic injury, insurance coverage, public entity liability litigation, commercial warranty litigation, products liability, oil and gas law, liquor and dram shop liability law, insurance liability law, and appeals.  Mr. Smith also serves as general counsel for several businesses throughout the state, and provides advice and representation on business related matters including transactional matters and employment law.  Mr. Smith has been awarded Martindale-Hubbell's highest AV® Preeminent™ rating.

 Mr. Smith is a seasoned trial attorney. His trial victories include successfully defending police officers accused of using excessive force during an arrest; defending a public transport entity and driver in a claim involving a plaintiff being run over and catastrophically injured by a public bus; representing an entity sued for improper maintenance of storm drains following significant flooding of a storage facility that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages; and defending an on-duty police officer who rear-ended a vehicle and allegedly caused significant injuries to the driver and passenger of that vehicle. 

 Mr. Smith has also won numerous summary judgment victories for his clients including summary judgment for an employer whose employee, while significantly impaired, collided with a police vehicle that caused significant injuries to a police officer; summary judgment for police officers accused of using excessive force during an arrest; summary judgment for a national manufacturer in a product liability suit; summary judgment for a national insurance company in an aggressively litigated insurance coverage dispute; and summary judgment for a national manufacturer in a Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act case.

 Mr. Smith earned his Juris Doctor degree from Florida Coastal School of Law, where he was a member both of the Law Journal and the Moot Court Honor Board.  As an undergraduate, Mr. Smith was captain of theUniversityofWyomingfootball team and was a first team Western Athletic Conference selection.  Mr. Smith is licensed to practice law inArizonaandFlorida, and is an inactive member of the Georgia Bar.  He is a member of the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel and the Defense Research Institute.