Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Labor & Employment; Labor Management Relations; Retail; Hospitality; Employment Litigation; New Jersey Practice Group; Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation; Multiemployer Plans.

Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

Mr. Smith is a partner in the Labor & Employment Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP's New York office. He is Chair of the Labor Management Relations Practice Group and Co-Chair of the New Jersey Practice Group. Mr. Smith maintains a broad national and local practice representing employers of all sizes and coordinating their defense and strategic approach to all aspects of labor and employment law.

In particular, Mr. Smith’s practice since 1991 includes vast experience in:

Collective bargaining, including large scale and multi-employer negotiations Strategic labor relations and planning, including plant closures, relocations, subcontracting, Taft-Hartley multi-employer defined benefit plan advice and analysis, and transactional and real estate due diligence Labor arbitration, unfair labor practice litigation and related counseling Labor dispute management, including state and federal strike, mass picketing, and injunctive labor litigation Advice and counsel regarding union organizing and representational matters under the NLRA Labor and employment counseling, litigation strategy and management

Mr. Smith has also amassed significant experience advising, counselling, and defending private clubs in matters concerning club operations, by-laws and governing documents, and disputes involving members, contractors or employees.

Mr. Smith has also devoted substantial practice time to:

Post-employment restriction counseling and litigation Drafting employment agreements, policies and compensation arrangements Wage and hour matters, including litigation management, audit defense and strategic compliance initiatives

Mr. Smith has developed particularized industry experience including:

General retail Food retail Not-for-profit organizations Refining, Oil and Gas, Energy Logistics Wholesale distribution Warehousing Trucking Private Club Matters Transportation and School Busing Building and Janitorial Services Courier Overnight delivery Casino gaming Clinical laboratory testing arenas

Prior to joining Seyfarth Shaw in February 2017, Mr. Smith was, for the prior 11 years, a shareholder at another AMLaw 100 firm and was responsible for managing its NJ office (also a member of its Board from 2013-2017).  Mr. Smith was the senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of The Grand Union Company, a regional food retailer with annual sales of $2 billion at the time. He concluded his employment there as president and chief executive officer presiding over the liquidation of the entity’s assets. He served as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Duane Reade, a New York based pharmacy chain with 8,000 employees and annual sales of $1 billion during his tenure. With both of these publicly-traded companies, he oversaw all legal areas of the enterprises and the compliance of the day-to-day human resource and labor relations functions. He was also a vice president and deputy general counsel of the metro division of C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., a national food wholesaler with annual revenues of $20 billion during his employment. He relies heavily on his in-house experiences when developing strategies to address client’s legal concerns, keeping in mind the need for candid assessments, decisive and dynamic thinking, and managing to budget expectations.  Mr. Smith’s practice benefits greatly from his many in-house experiences that include real estate, transactional, bankruptcy, corporate and securities matters.

Mr. Smith began his legal career with a then-leading regional labor and employment firm in northern New Jersey, was recruited away for his in-house positions, and returned to his prior firm to become a shareholder. Prior to that, he was an adjunct faculty member at Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business from 1988 until 1991, teaching the MBA program’s capstone course.

American Bar Association

J.D., Seton Hall University School of Law (1991); M.B.A., Seton Hall University, Stillman School of Business (1988); B.S./B.A., Seton Hall University, Stillman School of Business (1986).

Family, Golf, Travel