DAVID SMITH, JD

About.

Board Certified, Criminal Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization |

Highly motivated leader who is a passionate pioneer of technology. Agile attorney with superior knowledge of state-of-the-art technologies which evolve the status quo. Dynamic and professional leader who will deliver inventive solutions and superior results. Nearly two decades of experience negotiating and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to achieve objectives while also maintaining strong relationship management.  Proven professional who excels in planning, developing, and implementing cutting-edge processes that have resulted in a paradigm shift of business protocol. Thrives as an interface between technical/non-technical partners & legal/non-legal teams, communicating new technologies and end-user experiences. Spearheaded numerous innovative programs that led to great advancement in the efficiency and communication between the legal and technical departments. Highly respected mentor with resolute work ethic, proven loyalty, and a demonstrated team player.

  • Juris Doctorate, University of Houston Law Center

  • BA, Jewish Studies & Political Science, American Jewish University of Los Angeles, CA

Certifications

  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (December 3, 2021 – December 3, 2024) Validation Number 2ZHLRQHDHBQ4QNSM

  • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (October 20, 2021 – October 20, 2024) Validation Number XMVTK0GBGBEQ12WV

  • Board Certified, Criminal Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization (2015 – present)

Work Experience.

David Smith Law Firm, PLLC (2023 – present)

Sole Member (Owner)

  • 11200 Broadway St, STE 2743 Pearland, TX 77584
  • Learn more at https://www.davidsmith.law
  • Board Certified, Criminal Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization
  • Zealous Criminal Defense of cases from class C tickets through First Degree Felonies

Thomas J. Henry, Personal Injury Attorneys (2023)

Senior Litigation Attorney Manager

  • Lead a litigation team at one of the nation’s largest, most successful plaintiff personal injury firms

  • Ensure KPIs are met, such as: client satisfaction, ensuring maximum case value resolution, & deadline adherence

  • Facilitate the development of cases, ensuring liability (negligence & gross negligence), medical development, and insurance facts are thoroughly investigated

  • Strategize mediation and trial presentation

  • Meet with senior leadership to ensure firm’s best-practices are followed

  • Engage in ongoing training and development of personal injury management and trial skills

Brazoria County District Attorney’s Office (2005 – 2022)

Chief, Misdemeanor Division (2012 – 2022)

  • Leader, advocate, and mentor to a dynamic legal team of 14

  • Coached and guided over 30 professionals to achieve successful legal careers

  • Over 10 years of full life cycle recruitment of attorneys/legal talent identifying, engaging, evaluating, interviewing, negotiating compensation packages, and hiring candidates.  Managed and prioritized multiple searches and candidates on LinkedIn, law school career fairs, and online job boards.  Encouraged transition from paper to NeoGov recruiting technology for sourcing, tracking, and managing candidates

  • Modernized the transition from in-person jail pleas (paper format) to remote, electronic pleas with a timeframe of less than 20 days – interfaced with multiple departments and elected officials to ensure success of program

  • Held beta tests with judges, court staff, misdemeanor, and jail staff.  Facilitated the understanding, via effective communication, of the new process and cross-functionally helped technical and non-technical professionals gain competence in the implementation

  • Liaison between Information Systems and District Attorney’s Office – Given high level of trust by the District Attorney to achieve mutual goals

  • Interviewed vendors with CIO and Deputy CIO for cloud solution for magistration process, evaluating their best-practices and ability to adhere to a well-architected framework

  • Interfaced with judges and Information Systems in the implementation of new courtroom presentation technology hardware & software

  • Managed remote team during COVID lockdown periods

Creator of DWI iPad Blood Search Warrant Program

  • Sought-after for consultation by multiple agencies in several states in their implementation of the Program

  • Increased efficiencies in officers applying for search warrants, which decreased their time taken off of active patrol by 50%

  • Installed and tested required apps and procedures, with step-by-step guide for judges and officers

  • Created, used, and learned the process, iterating to make the program an ideal fit for its stated goals

  • Generated an original step-by-step, user-friendly guide for non-technical end-users

  • Researched, implemented, and maintained MDM solution to track iPad inventory, push updates, notices & apps

Felony Trial Division (2007 – 2012)

  • Prosecuted approximately 50 felony jury trials

  • Negotiated numerous complex plea deals

  • Made legal requests via subpoenas for defendant and witness information

  • Interfaced with crime victims, witnesses, and law enforcement during the preparation of cases for pleas or trial

  • Compassionately balanced the needs of crime victims, while upholding to duty to justice

Misdemeanor Trial Division (2006 – 2007)

  • Prosecuted approximately 40 misdemeanor jury trials

  • Prosecuted two first-chair felony cases

Juvenile Prosecution Division (2005 – 2006)

  • Proactively managed cases from screening through plea

  • Ensured the best interests of each juvenile were attained

Harris County District Attorney’s Office (2003 – 2005)

Grand Jury Division

  • Designed and implemented program to track lab status/location for drug cases

  • Performed factual investigations to prepare cases, and reviewed indictments for accuracy

Additional Experience.

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS

WEBSITE MANAGEMENT & SYSTEM ADMINSITRATION

  • Upgraded and designed the brazoriabar.org website for the Brazoria County Bar Association, managed the website frontend, backend, and CRM

  • Viewership increased by 400%, resulting in revenue increasing by 24%

  • Created Premium Directory Listings, adding thousands of dollars in previously untapped revenue

  • Drafted Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

  • Connected APIs of Google Cloud to facilitate map display and email disbursement

  • Integrated with CRM via API for contacts and sales management    

Skills.

  • Increased knowledge of AWS via the AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Associate Challenge 2021, AWS white papers, third-party training modules & hosting davidsmithjd.com on AWS.  Separated monolith WordPress application into macro services: EC2, Aurora RDS, ALB, WAF, EFS, OpenSearch, and CloudFront CDN

  • Managed G Suite as Super Administrator for Brazoria County Bar Foundation Board of Directors, adhering to best practices for security

  • Increased knowledge of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) through white papers, hands-on practice, reviewing presentations at Google Next on: GDPR, security, and compliance topics

  • Security hardening, Cloudflare CDN optimization, firewall management, PCI compliance, privacy compliance commensurate with GDPR, SSH, SFTP, PHP, Apache, NGINX, DNS, Caching, basic Linux commands

  • Manually configured HomeBridge on Raspberry Pi for integration of Samsung SmartThings IDE with Apple HomeKit

  • Experience using GitHub to sync files to local folders, track software iterations pre-release, and interact with developers after encountering a software bug

Professional Memberships.

State Bar of Texas, Active in Good Standing Attorney and Counselor-At-Law (2005 – present)

Houston Bar Association (2022 – present)

Houston Trial Lawyers Association (2023 – present)

Brazoria County Bar Association (2005 – present)

Brazoria County Bar Foundation (2019 – present)

Texas District and County Attorneys Association (2005 – 2022)