Mark A. Smith is a Washington, D.C.-based attorney whose practice spans criminal defense, civil litigation, corporate counsel, and discreet Washington problems. He brings to each matter a depth of experience and perspective that is rare. He has been a Legal Aid Attorney, a Prettyman-Stiller Fellow, a Williams & Connolly Associate, and an Assistant United States Attorney.
He has represented individuals, businesses, and organizations when the matter is serious, the counsel must be sound, and discretion is essential.
There is a kind of lawyer that experience alone produces. One who has seen enough to know what matters, and who has developed—through years of work across many kinds of cases and many kinds of clients—the judgment to act on that knowledge effectively.
Mark A. Smith is that kind of lawyer.
He has handled criminal, civil, and corporate matters of considerable range and complexity. He has represented large institutions, individuals, and navigated the sundry corridors of government. He has represented the powerful and the vulnerable. What that breadth of experience has given him is not a narrow expertise, but something uncommon—the ability to bring clear, seasoned judgment to bear on a broad array of legal predicaments.
He has now established an independent practice. That decision reflects a deliberate choice: to work closely with a select number of clients, to be directly involved in every matter, and to offer the kind of unhurried, attentive counsel that is increasingly difficult to find.
He is, in the most meaningful sense of the phrase, a counselor at law.
Federal and state criminal matters carry consequences that extend well beyond the courtroom—to careers, families, and reputations built over a lifetime. Mr. Smith approaches each matter with the seriousness and the confidentiality it demands. His experiences as a Prettyman-Stiller Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center and as an Assistant United States Attorney afforded him meaningful insight into how the government builds and pursues its cases.
Solving legal problems requires more than technical legal skill—it requires sound judgment regarding when to press forward, when to negotiate, and how to understand and protect what matters most to the client. Mr. Smith represents clients in commercial disputes, contract matters, employment litigation, civil rights claims, and appellate proceedings, with that judgment always at the forefront.
Few experiences are more disorienting or more consequential than becoming the subject of a government investigation. Mr. Smith guides individuals and organizations through federal agency investigations, enforcement actions, and related proceedings with steadiness and a clear understanding of what is at stake.
Business decisions made without careful legal counsel carry risks that are often not immediately visible. Mr. Smith advises businesses and their principals on formation, contracts, governance, compliance, and risk, providing frank, practical guidance and handling sensitive matters with the discretion that business relationships require.
High-ranking government officials, political figures, executives, and professionals ensconced in sensitive positions in Washington, D.C. may encounter unsettling circumstances native to the District of Columbia and its unique political dynamics. These matters become potentially volatile if they simultaneously involve competing governing bodies. Mr. Smith judiciously manages intricate, delicate, yet consequential predicaments like these. Allegations and investigations involving ethics, campaign finance, misconduct, foreign influence, classified information, and other such threats are situations Mr. Smith is practiced at artfully discharging, minimizing, or otherwise satisfactorily resolving.
Mark Smith began his career as a Legal Aid Attorney in Baltimore, then a Prettyman-Stiller Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center, where he developed a foundation in trial advocacy and an understanding that legal representation is, at its core, a relationship built on trust and human connection.
He went on to serve as an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP, one of the country’s most respected litigation firms, before serving as an Assistant United States Attorney. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Over the course of his career, he has represented executives, public officials, private individuals, professional athletes, and businesses across criminal, civil, and corporate matters of varying complexity and sensitivity. His clients come to him at moments of considerable personal or professional vulnerability. He understands the weight of that trust. Personal attention and discretion are hallmarks of Mr. Smith’s practice.
All consultations are confidential and conducted directly with Mr. Smith.
1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 200
Washington, DC 20006
masmith@masmithfirm.com
(202) 870-1299