Top Rated Criminal Defense Attorney in Raleigh, NC

Wade Smith has been one of North Carolina’s best known and most acclaimed lawyers for nearly 50 years. His trials are recounted in books, magazines and journals. A renowned storyteller, Wade insists that within each case there is a compelling story waiting to be told. In seminars and bar meetings Wade has shared the art of storytelling. His cases offer a fine collection of North Carolina Courtroom lore. In 1979, Wade served as counsel to Dr. Jeffrey McDonald in the much studied and discussed Green Beret Murder case. Most recently he was lead counsel for Collin Finnerty, one of three young men accused in the Duke Lacrosse Case.

To commemorate the body of work Wade has completed, the North Carolina Bar Association established in the spring of 2008 the annual Wade M. Smith award “for a Criminal Defense Attorney Who Exemplifies the Highest Ideals of the Profession.” In summer, 2008, the North Carolina Bar Association presented Wade with the H. Brent McKnight Renaissance Lawyer Award which annually goes to “an attorney whose trustworthiness, respectful and courteous treatment of all people, enthusiasm for intellectual achievement and commitment to excellence in work and service to the profession and community, inspires others.”

In Summer, 2009, Wade was be honored along with other lawyers from across America by Best Lawyers in America for 25 years of succession for inclusion in their list. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since its inception in 1983. He has been selected to the North Carolina Super Lawyers Top 100 list since its inception in 2006, and has been frequently listed in their prestigious Top 10 list throughout the years. He has been selected to the Top 25 Raleigh Lawyers list by North Carolina Super Lawyers since it began in 2013. In 2016, Super Lawyers Magazine honored Mr. Smith, calling him “Our Atticus Finch” in their cover editorial.

In 2004 Wade was named by Business North Carolina Magazine as North Carolina’s number one criminal lawyer. This selection was based on a vote by his fellow lawyers. He is now a member of Business North Carolina’s “Legal Elite” Hall of Fame