James W. "Jim" Smith

Jim Smith is a founding partner of Smith Hurst, PLC. Jim’s practice experience is extensive and spans the full range of business advisory and transactional law. He routinely counsels companies across diverse industries in a myriad of business matters including capital raising, advising Boards of Directors, senior management, executives and controlling shareholders regarding governance and fiduciary duty matters, compliance with regulatory obligations, ordinary course of business contracts, executive compensation and compensatory plans, financial and lending matters (including private placement of securities), venture capital, private equity and commercial lending matters, taxation, mergers and acquisitions and real estate related matters. A meaningful part of his practice is also devoted to the representation of seed stage investors, private equity investors and venture capital firms in making investments in business enterprises.

Mr. Smith has practiced law in Arkansas for over two decades with his practice principally focused on advising companies, executives and entrepreneurs regarding a full range of business advisory and transactional law matters, with a particular emphasis on corporate governance and finance (including capital raises and securities law matters), strategic initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, compliance with regulatory obligations, executive compensation and compensatory plans and business contractual matters. He routinely advises Boards of Directors and controlling shareholders with respect to fiduciary duty matters and shareholder activism.

Mr. Smith obtained his Masters of Law in Taxation degree (LL.M.) from New York University School of Law and graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas School of Law where he was a member of the Arkansas Law Review. He is also a licensed Certified Public Accountant (registered inactive). Jim currently serves in his second term as a Commissioner on the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Arkansas Tech University, where he also served as Chairman in 2023. Additionally, Jim serves on the Executive Committee of the University of Arkansas Technology Development Foundation which is responsible for managing and operating the Arkansas Research and Technology Park. Mr. Smith has served on the Executive Committee of and as the co-chairman of the Arkansas Venture Capital Forum and as the chairman of the Tax Section of the Arkansas Bar Association and is a former Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors of Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. He also has served as an instructor at the University of Arkansas School of Law teaching courses in the law of Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities Regulation, Corporate Practice Ethics, and Private Equity Investing.

Mid-South Super Lawyers has repeatedly named him one of the top fifty lawyers in Arkansas. In the inaugural edition of The Arkansas 200, published by Arkansas Business, he was recognized among Arkansas’s top influencers, and has subsequently been honored in The Arkansas 250 for multiple years, most recently, 2023. In 2023, Jim was recognized in the Arkansas Money & Politics list of Top 100 Professionals in Arkansas. He also has been recognized by Chambers & Partners USA as a top lawyer in Corporate Commercial and Corporate Taxation law. Jim is currently recognized by Best Lawyers in America as the Lawyer of the Year in the Northwest Arkansas region for both Corporate Law and Tax Law and is also recognized for his work in Corporate Governance Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Banking and Finance Law, Real Estate Law, Securitization and Structured Finance Law and Securities and Capital Markets Law. Jim has been recognized by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal as part of its C-Suite Honors, an award given to the top business executives in the region, was named to the Arkansas Business 40 Under Forty list and the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal 40 Under Forty list, and in 2001, was inducted into the Arkansas Tech University Hall of Distinction.