BS MIS ‘02
Grasford Smith, President of the Palm Beach County Bar Association, is a Litigation Partner with Akerman, a Top 100 US law firm, and Chair of the West Palm Beach Office for Litigation. He is admitted to practice in NY, DC, FL, and the U.S. Supreme Ct. He maintains an office in West Palm Beach and New York City.
He is listed in Best Lawyers in America and is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell. He received numerous other honors, including “500 Leading Lawyers in America” by Lawdragon, “500 Most Influential Executives” by Florida Trend, “Corporate Executive of the Year” by Legacy Magazine, "National Black Lawyers Top 100," and “Florida Super Lawyers.”
Mr. Smith practices complex business litigation and has represented a diverse clientele, including fortune 500 companies, government agencies and elected officials, a major league baseball team and a major online travel retailer. He gained experience at a Wall Street law firm and prestigious Florida firms and worked on "bet-the-company" matters involving billions of dollars, including contract disputes, shareholder and board of director disputes, non-competition and trade secret disputes, real estate and construction defects disputes, intellectual property disputes, government enforcement actions, and Florida Bar disciplinary matters.
Grasford is serving in numerous other capacities, including as Chair of the Minority Partners Division of the National Bar Association and Chair of the American Heart Association of Palm Beach County.
Mr. Smith is a graduate of Florida State University, summa cum laude, where he served as President of the MIS Association and NYU School of Law as a Vanderbilt Medal recipient at graduation and a Dean’s Scholar where he served as the Founding Executive Editor of the Journal of Law and Business.
