David B. Smith, PLLC is a litigation firm with standout expertise in white collar and criminal defense, asset forfeiture and restitution. Whether it is providing astute legal advice or conceiving and executing a litigation strategy, we ensure that clients receive efficient and highly cost-effective representation. As a result, we have built a record of successfully resolving criminal and civil exposure across the spectrum of federal liability, including money laundering, money transmitting, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, bribery, “kleptocracy” cases, procurement fraud, health care fraud, structuring, bulk cash smuggling, RICO, false claims, mail and wire fraud, computer crimes, and other offenses.
We have litigated scores of cases in federal courts, argued over a hundred federal appeals and have recovered our clients’ property in dozens of cases. We have experience litigating on behalf of clients from around the world seeking to recover assets spanning many jurisdictions. We have represented a country, a former prime minister, a finance minister, a Member of Parliament, an ambassador’s wife, corporations, and one of the richest men in the world.
As a team, our partners have over 50 years of combined experience practicing criminal law, including as a federal prosecutor, and have received professional recognition from, among others, Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, and the AV Preeminent peer review rating through Martindale-Hubbell. We have been named as a Tier 1 Best Law Firm from Best Lawyers (2024).
Our firm is widely regarded as the preeminent asset forfeiture law firm in the country. David B. Smith, the country’s foremost expert in forfeiture law, is the author of the leading two-volume treatise on the subject, Prosecution and Defense of Forfeiture Cases (2023), published by Matthew Bender. Mr. Smith has regularly counseled the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on forfeiture and money laundering legislation, and was heavily involved in drafting the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000, which governs most federal civil forfeiture proceedings.