Services
The commitment of The Smitherman Law Firm, L.C., is to serve its clients' needs in a professional, efficient, and responsive manner with the highest degree of personal involvement, competence, creativity, and initiative.
Founded in 1922 by James E. Smitherman and his brother David E. Smitherman, the Firm has a tradition of providing a complete spectrum of civil legal services, while devoting individual attention to every client. The Firm is rated "AV" by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory (the highest rating granted for legal ability and general recommendations) and enjoys a superior reputation among the legal profession, the judiciary, and its clients. While the main office is in Shreveport, Louisiana, it has a satellite office in Bossier City, Louisiana, and represents clients in transactions throughout the United States and overseas.
The Firm has a client base of individuals, privately- and publicly-owned businesses, and lending institutions. Its members have expertise in law related to business organizations; mergers and acquisitions; personal injury and wrongful death; medical malpractice; construction law; employment law; oil, gas and mineral rights; real estate development and financing; banking; bankruptcy; creditors' rights; securities; taxation; estate planning; wills, successions, and trusts; landlord and tenant law; and contracts. The Firm handles a variety of civil litigation in municipal, state, and federal courts.
As agent for First American Title Insurance Company, the Firm is authorized to issue title insurance policies for First American Title Insurance Company.
SMITHERMAN RESUMES
William James "Jim" Hill, III
Jim Hill has a diversified legal background with primary emphasis on commercial, contract, real estate, real estate finance, real estate development, medical malpractice, personal injury, corporate, partnership, and succession law as well as employer-employee relations, oil, gas and mineral rights law, and workers compensation. Specific emphasis is placed on litigation in these areas in all state and federal courts.
Mr. Hill has extensive knowledge and experience in real estate matters involving corporations, general and limited partnerships, limited liability companies, mergers and acquisitions, affordable housing issues, oil, gas and mineral rights, acquisition and sales, commercial leases, property management issues, and financing and transfers of real property and real estate projects. He has drafted all types of loan and closing documents for banks, savings and loan associations, and other types of financial institutions. In addition, he works extensively on matters involving title policies and title company representation, including handling all types of loan closings from VA, FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac to conventional. He has served as counsel to new business entities in start-up and capitalization phases, raising investment capital through the formation of limited partnerships and syndication of securities in the private sector.
Mr. Hill is a licensed title insurance agent and is authorized to issue title insurance policies for First American Title Insurance Company.
Mr. Hill holds an "AV" rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He is the managing member of The Smitherman Law Firm, L.C., and is the President and CEO of Interstate Title Company, Inc.
Mr. Hill obtained his law degree from Louisiana State University, a Bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University, and a Masters degree from North Texas State University. He is retired from the United States Army Reserve, having achieved the rank of Colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps. Mr. Hill is a past president of the Tax Institute of the Ark-La-Tex and is a member of the Shreveport Bar Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the State Bar of Oklahoma, the State Bar of Colorado, the State Bar of Missouri, the State Bar of Kansas, and the District of Columbia Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, and the Louisiana Association for Justice.
Mr. Hill has served in numerous capacities from volunteer to officer and director on various civic, charitable, and community organizations. He has extensive involvement in professional and community activities. He is currently a member of the House of Delegates of the Louisiana Bar Association.
Mr. Hill understands the development of multi-family housing projects and the methods of financing these projects. He has worked on numerous and varied projects in several states including Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Florida, and Nevada. He is admitted to practice law in the states of Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado , Missouri, Kansas, and also the District of Columbia.
Donald Lee Brice, Jr.
Lee Brice has a broad general practice with emphasis on litigation of business and personal disputes for both plaintiffs and defendants; real estate transactions and financing; business organizations; construction law; successions and estate planning; personal injury and wrongful death; medical malpractice; and bankruptcy. He also practices in the areas of commercial lending, family law, landlord and tenant law, employment law, and other areas related to the foregoing.
Mr. Brice is a licensed title insurance agent and is authorized to issue title insurance policies for First American Title Insurance Company.
Mr. Brice obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University. For his academic excellence in his undergraduate studies, Mr. Brice obtained cum laude recognition and was honored with an LSU Alumni Scholarship throughout his four years as an undergraduate. While in law school, he received the American Jurisprudence Award for academic excellence in torts.
Mr. Brice is a member of the Shreveport Bar Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.
Merritt B. Chastain, Jr. (Of Counsel)
Merritt Chastain has in-depth experience in a broad cross-section of commercial law, with specific emphasis on corporations, partnerships, finance, mergers, negotiations, real estate, and matters related to the banking industry.
Examples of his diverse background include: structuring and formation of corporations, general and limited partnerships and other business organizations; managing numerous sophisticated financial transactions in the acquisition, development, financing and sale of real estate projects and certifying and issuing title insurance; serving as corporate counsel to new business entities in the start up and capitalization phases and assisting business principals with business planning and finance; raising investment capital through the formation of limited partnerships and syndication of securities in the private sector; handling mergers for corporate clients, SEC registrations and anti-trust filings and engaging in negotiations for and drafting of documents necessary for obtaining FHA insured loans and Section 8 Certificates.
Mr. Chastain has comprehensive experience in the representation of banks. His clients include a large number of builders, developers, and property managers for whom he has provided counsel in the areas of acquisition, finance, development, and management.
Mr. Chastain has a law degree from Louisiana State University where he served as Vice President of the student body during his senior year. He obtained an undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma. Mr. Chastain is a member of the Shreveport, Louisiana and American Bar Associations and the Louisiana Law Institute. He served as President of the Young Lawyers Section and as Secretary-Treasurer of the Shreveport Bar Association.
Gerald Le Van (Special Counsel)
Gerald Le Van serves as Special Counsel for The Smitherman Law Firm, L.C. Mr. Le Van received his law degree from Louisiana State University and his college degree from Southern Methodist University.
Mr. Le Van has served on the Louisiana Law Institute, a member of the Committee on Successions and Donations, served on the Committee on Continuous Revisions of Trust Code, International Academy of Estate and Trust Law and as a member of the Executive Council and Vice President of the Americas.
Mr. Le Van has been Editor-in-Chief of the Louisiana Law Review, a Professor of Law, Louisiana State University and has authored "Lawyers' Lives Out of Control: A Quality of Life Handbook; Survival Guide for Business Families; Healthy Wealth in Families and Co-author of "Louisiana Wills and Trusts: A Drafting System," with the late Judge Alvin B. Rubin and L. Paul Hood, Jr. He has also been the co-editor of "Louisiana Estate Planner" with L. Paul Hood, Jr. He is the Managing Director of The Le Van Company, Consultants and Mediators. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and is a Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and editor, Probate Notes. He is also a member of The Le Van Company, LLC, in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Stuart D. Lunn (Retired)