Orlando Civil Litigation and Orlando Employment Law Attorney
Born in Leesburg, Florida, Rick Smith is a second-generation Floridian and has been litigating for approximately 25 years in North and Central Florida. In 1994, he graduated from the FSU College of Law in Tallahassee and obtained his J.D. with High Honors. From there he practiced law in Jacksonville, Florida at a downtown law firm handling primarily employment lawsuits, criminal defense, and appeals. In 1999, Rick and his family moved to Orlando. He has been dedicated to serving and representing clients throughout Central Florida in a wide array of civil matters including employment disputes, commercial and consumer contract disagreements, product liability and wrongful death matters, premise liability lawsuits, slip and fall, negligent security, automobile, and trucking accident claims, ADA accessibility matters, workplace discrimination, and retaliation disputes, wage and hour concerns (unpaid wages, overtime, & minimum wages), non-compete agreement enforcement and defense whether relating to employment or independent contractor situations and defamation litigation. His expertise is extensive as an experienced Orlando trial attorney who knows his way around the courtroom and system.
Rick is admitted to trying cases throughout Florida including all three of the federal civil districts, i.e., Middle, Southern and Northern Districts of Florida. Since 2012, he has consistently maintained an AV rating which is the highest rating granted attorneys under the Martindale-Hubbell system and which indicates his peers rank him to be practicing law at the highest levels of excellence. In addition, he has been recognized as a Super Lawyer every year since 2016 in the area of Employment and Labor Law.
Beyond the courtroom, Rick Smith handles various transactional work for his clients. A shortlist of his prior experience assisting his clients includes drafting and/or analyzing various commercial and consumer contracts, creating custom employment handbooks and policy manuals, conducting or assisting in internal employment investigations as to sexual harassment and discrimination, handling wage and hour audits, forming and registering certain company entities, preparing various powers of attorney, drafting and/or reviewing severance agreements, creating and/or analyzing employment or independent contractor agreements, and more.
In 2010, Rick was certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a Circuit Civil Mediator and conducts private party and court-ordered Mediations. He is also certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a County Civil Mediator and is approved to conduct mediations in federal civil cases in the Middle District of Florida.
When not at the office or courtroom, you might find Rick trapped in an escape room, being dragged around downtown by his two dogs, or hiking a National Park with one or both of his sons.
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