Ethan W. Smith

Ethan is a co-founder and CEO of Starfield & Smith, P.C. Ethan focuses his practice in commercial law, with an emphasis on government-guaranteed lending, conventional commercial lending and real estate law. He works with various SBA lenders nationwide, ranging from large national lenders to
small community banks and credit unions, and is a designated closing counsel for several Certified Development Companies. Ethan has also developed an active practice representing lenders before the US Small Business Administration on a variety of SBA guarantee related matters and leads the firm’s SBA compliance audit team.  Ethan is very active as a writer and speaker on government guaranteed lending issues nationwide.  He has been recognized for possessing the highest levels of legal skills and ethics, achieving an “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell and having been repeatedly named a “Rising Star” and "Super Lawyer" by Philadelphia Magazine.  Ethan serves as a Director for the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, the national trade association for SBA 7(a) lenders, and in 2017, was recognized as its "Instructor of the Year" for his teaching efforts. Ethan has also served as an expert witness on several SBA and real estate related litigation matters. As a closing attorney for commercial lenders, Ethan prepares loan documents and performs compliance reviews for loan files for SBA 7(a), 504, conventional, and USDA B&I commercial loans. He has closed hundreds of government-guaranteed commercial loans through the SBA 7(a) and 504 loan programs, the USDA B&I program, and has closed numerous other conventional commercial financing transactions, including warehouse lines of credit, SBA securitizations, asset-based, real estate, and factoring facilities.  Ethan has closed numerous complex commercial transactions, often involving multi-jurisdictional issues and collateral. Ethan also represents numerous lenders in SBA licensing (SBLC and NFRL), compliance, regulatory enforcement, and guarantee purchase matters.