Richard Smith, one of the founding partners of Christian & Small and a partner with its predecessor, Rives & Peterson, has been an integral member of the firm’s litigation group for his entire legal career. He served as the firm’s Managing Partner for five years. Richard’s practice focuses primarily on complex and corporate litigation for clients in the financial services, health care and construction industries, as well as corporate entities in other industries. His extensive litigation experience includes having tried over 160 jury trials to a verdict in over 30 Alabama counties and all three Alabama federal district courts. He obtained successful results for his clients in over 90% of those cases.

In recent years, Richard has arbitrated more than 30 cases before the American Arbitration Association, the National Association of Security Dealers, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and other arbitration panels. He has been appointed as an arbitrator, mediator, and receiver in several business litigation disputes. Because of Richard’s vast trial experience combined with his knowledge of the insurance industry, he is frequently retained as an expert to consult and testify in insurance cases dealing with bad faith and coverage disputes.