Todd Smith
Founding Partner | Smith LaCien LLP
Todd Smith is a personal injury, medical malpractice and product liability trial lawyer and founding partner at Smith LaCien LLP in Chicago, Illinois. Admitted in Illinois and District of Columbia; J.D., Loyola University Chicago School of Law (1976).
Meet Todd
Todd A. Smith is a founding partner of Smith LaCien LLP in Chicago, Illinois. The firm represents people who have suffered catastrophic injuries or wrongful death, including in medical malpractice and accident cases against corporations, insurance companies, hospitals and government agencies.
Smith was a founding partner of Power Rogers & Smith, P.C., in 1993. He left that firm to start Smith LaCien with Brian LaCien in March 2020. The firm reports more than $3.5 billion in settlements and verdicts, and Smith received the JVR/Law Bulletin Media Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.
He is a past president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now the American Association for Justice), the Illinois State Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. He is also a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers and the Inner Circle of Advocates, and is an elected board member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Smith earned a B.A. from Kansas University in 1971, an M.B.A. from Northwestern University in 1973 and a J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1976. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1976.
Experience and Expertise
Qualifications
Timeline
- University of Kansas, B.A. (1971)
- Northwestern University, M.B.A. (1973)
- Loyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D. (1976)
- Admitted to the Illinois Bar (1976)
- Admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court (1990)
- Admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (1991)
- Admitted to the District of Columbia Bar (2012)
Practice Areas
- American Association for Justice (Past President)
- Illinois State Bar Association (Past President)
- Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (Past President)
- American College of Trial Lawyers
- International Society of Barristers
- Inner Circle of Advocates
- International Academy of Trial Lawyers (Board Member)
- JVR/Law Bulletin Media Lifetime Achievement Award (2025)
- Lawdragon Hall of Fame (2022)
- Lawdragon Top 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2021)
- Illinois Super Lawyers, ranked No. 2 overall in Illinois (2021)
- The Best Lawyers in America (since 1997)
- AAJ Leonard Ring Champion of Justice Award (2015)
- Illinois State Bar Association Distinguished Award for Excellence (2015)
- Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year (2012)
- Mass Tort Lawyer of the Year (2011)
- American Association for Justice Lifetime Achievement Award (2009)
Print is Alive
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