Michael C. Smith is the managing partner of Scheef & Stone LLP’s Marshall office, where he assists clients with complex commercial and patent litigation in state and federal courts. Mr. Smith, who has appeared as counsel of record in over 900 cases in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, served as chairman of the District’s Local Rules Advisory Committee from 2000-2009. He has also been editor of the O’Connor’s Federal Rules * Civil Trials handbook on federal civil procedure since 1998 and maintains the nationally recognized Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice and Texas IP Law blogs at www.EDTexweblog.com.

Mr. Smith served on the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas from 2005-08, representing 24 counties in northeast Texas, where he was recognized as Outstanding Third Year Director. He has chaired the editorial board for the Texas Bar Journal, and the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas, and currently serves on the IP Law Section’s governing council. In 2016 he was selected as one of two nominees for President-elect of the State Bar. Mr. Smith is a past president of the Eastern District of Texas Bar Association, East Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and the Harrison County Bar Association, and is a charter member of the T. John Ward American Inn of Court, and an Associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, where he has served as president for the East Texas ABOTA chapter. He is also a Life Fellow of the ABOTA Foundation, and a Sustaining Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. He has been selected for inclusion in each of the Texas Super Lawyers lists since 2008 and is a recipient of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation’s Cy Pres: Impact on Justice award, TexasBarCLE’s Standing Ovation award, and the Sam B. Hall, Jr. Civic Service award from East Texas Baptist University. In 2012, Texas Lawyer named him one of four Top Notch lawyers in Texas in the field of intellectual property.

Mr. Smith holds a law degree from Baylor University, a master’s degree in public administration from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s degree in World War II Studies from Arizona State University, and a bachelor’s degree from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M – Commerce). Before entering private practice, he served as a law clerk for the late U.S. District Judge Sam B. Hall, Jr. of the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall, and Texarkana Divisions, and worked in Baylor University’s Office of General Counsel. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Smith worked for the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Education Agency in Austin, Texas, and the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality in Washington, D.C. Mr. Smith, a Marshall native, served on the Marshall City Commission for three terms, from 1996-2002, and is a former president of the Harrison County Historical Museum and the Citizens Advisory Committee and a former member of the Marshall Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Mr. Smith is married to Harrison County Treasurer Jamie Marie Noland. They have three sons, Grayson, 21 and twins Collin & Parker, 18. The Smiths attend St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Marshall, where Mr. Smith serves on the finance and building committees. He is also a 28-year Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus and a Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Mr. Smith also is the sole inventor on two U.S. patents, the author of two books on aircraft carriers, and owner of a Marshall pizza restaurant. In 2010 he was recognized by the Marshall Historic Landmark Preservation Board for renovating the historic Hub Shoe Store offices for use by his law firm.