Burks A. Smith, III, born Kansas City, Missouri; admitted to bar, 2005, Florida; United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, 2005

Education
Stetson University (B.B.A. 2002), (M.B.A. 2005); Stetson University College of Law (J.D. cum laude, 2005).

Member
The Florida Bar,  St. Petersburg Bar Association, The Order of Barristers.

While at Stetson, Mr. Smith was an active member on Stetson's Moot Court Board. In 2004, he was selected as one of four members of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Team. As a member of this team, Mr. Smith traveled to Vienna, Austria to compete in the largest single moot court event in the world. He received an Honorable Mention for the Best Oralist Award at the 2004 competition. Mr. Smith returned as a member of the team in 2005, where he received the Best Oralist Award at the Florida Bar Vis Pre-Competition.

Together with his team colleagues, Mr. Smith ultimately went on to take First Place in the 2005 competition. As a result, Stetson's team became the first American school to become world champions in the Vis Moot since 1996.

Mr. Smith was also successful in other areas of advocacy, winning the Victor O'Wehle award for excellence in trial advocacy as well as Third Place in the Gray Harris First Year Appellate Advocacy Competition.

In addition to participating in Moot Court, Mr. Smith worked as a law clerk with a Tampa Bay area defense firm for more than a year. He became a member of our firm in September, 2005.

Mr. Smith primarily practices in the areas of first party insurance defense, third party insurance defense, insurance coverage litigation, products liability, construction litigation, and complex litigation/bodily injury matters.