Christopher J. Smith, partner since 2011 and managing partner since 2018, is a trial attorney for personal injury cases.
Mr. Smith was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2007 and joined Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice & Purtz at that time. He is Board Certified in Civil Trial, which is an honor only approximately 1% of civil trial attorneys achieve. Board Certification is achieved only by trying a certain number of civil trials to verdict and then taking a written exam. He is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, by his attorney peers and judges, which is the highest rating an attorney can achieve. He is an Eagle member of the Florida Justice Association, an organization dedicated to strengthening and upholding Florida’s civil justice system. He was also inducted into the Southwest Florida Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). ABOTA is a prestigious national invitation-only group of trial attorneys that has stringent requirements attorneys must meet in order to qualify.
Originally from Akron, Ohio, Mr. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in political science and a minor in communications from John Carroll University. He played football, helping his team clinch the 2003 NCAA Division III East Regional Championship and gain a berth in the NCAA Division III Final Four. He graduated cum laude from St. Thomas University School of Law, receiving awards as the top student in family law and criminal procedure. During law school he became certified to practice law in front of the Third District Court of Appeal of Florida and practiced personal injury law with a Miami-based plaintiff’s law firm.
He is the firm’s team leader for the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) annual 5k walk and the firm is the presenting sponsor for the event. Mr. Smith’s wife Andrea Pleimling Smith is also a partner and trial attorney with the firm. They live in Fort Myers and enjoy outdoor activities, involvement with the Gulf Coast Humane Society and spending time with their family in Southwest Florida, as well as their dogs Boo and Thunder, both of which are rescues from animal shelters.
