Raquel Smith is an attorney with the Law Office of Barry H. Helfand, P.A. and focuses her practice on serious criminal and traffic matters. Ms. Smith decided to pursue a career in law after interning with a non-profit legal services provider in Prince George’s County, MD. While interning, she witnessed the difficulties unrepresented litigants experienced attempting to navigate Maryland’s legal system. Thereafter, she knew she would focus her career on assisting litigants obtain the best possible results.

Ms. Smith has handled hundreds of cases over the course of her career, including felonies, misdemeanors and serious traffic offenses. She has also represented litigants in personal injury matters and domestic violence hearings. Ms. Smith has obtained complete jury acquittals on a variety of cases including cases where her clients faced the possibility of life in jail. She has also obtained jury verdicts in excess of settlement offers relayed by insurance companies; in one case, Ms. Smith obtained a jury verdict twelve times higher than what the insurance company offered her client to settle. She has earned the reputation of being an aggressive but amicable litigator among her peers. The majority of her clients are Spanish-speaking, and she prides herself on effectively communicating the nuances of the legal process to her clients and making that process less stressful. 

Ms. Smith is a member of the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys’ Association, the Montgomery County Bar Association and the Anne Arundel County Bar Association. Ms. Smith earned her Juris Doctorate from the American University, Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. and her Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County, graduating from Georgetown Visitation College Preparatory School in Washington, D.C. She speaks fluent Spanish and is of Chilean and Jamaican descent. Ms. Smith has been barred in Maryland since 2013.