John E. Smith


John E. Smith

Attorney “Of Counsel”
I was born May 9, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, the oldest of three boys born to John E. and Judy B. Smith. I completed High School in 1976 at William A. Wirt in Gary. That summer I went to work for the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway (EJ&E) in the U.S. Steel Gary Works plant. In the fall, I moved to Missoula, Montana to begin my undergraduate studies at the University of
Montana. Realizing I was not ready to apply myself to my studies, I left college in the spring of 1977. I went to work as a gandy dancer for the EJ&E on the main line in Northwest Indiana, working train derailments, driving railroad spikes, and generally maintaining a 26-mile section of track.

In May 1978, I returned to Missoula where I found work as a framing carpenter until returning to my studies at the University of Montana in the fall semester, 1978. I pursued a dual major in philosophy and economics, with emphasis on the evolution of philosophical and political thought, and economic systems, from the Greeks to present day. I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in the spring of 1983 from the University of Montana.

Throughout college, I worked as a carpenter and, when building slowed, on a 6000-acre dryland wheat farm in central Montana doing all manner of farm and ranch work. I took a year off between undergrad and law school to “steep” in what I had learned and work saving money. Just before starting law school, I spent two months on a bike tour in Europe during the summer of 1984.

I entered the University of Montana School of Law for the fall semester. I graduated, with honors in the spring of 1987, earning a Juris Doctor degree. I was hired as an associate attorney at a small law firm in Missoula called Mullendore & Tawney. I worked for a year probating estates and drafting business contracts. I gained an acquittal for our client in one criminal jury trial during that year.

In search of more trial experience, I took a position with the Missoula County Public Defender’s Office commencing November 1988. I represented criminal clients in all types of felony and misdemeanor cases, youths in juvenile court, mentally ill clients in commitment proceedings, and guardian ad litem for children in dependency and neglect cases. I tried over thirty cases to a judge or jury during my four years as a public defender.

In August 1992, I realized my dream of having my own law office. I hung a shingle and immediately began taking criminal cases as well as plaintiff's personal injury cases, and some family law cases. I quickly became established as a competent criminal trial lawyer trying cases in both Federal and State District Courts involving Medicaid and workers' compensation fraud, federal conspiracy to commit fraud, bribery and money laundering, and federal Clean Water Act litigation. Feeling a passion for the constitutional issues involved in defending people in our criminal justice system, I eventually came to practice exclusively in the criminal law.

In 1996, I joined with 14 other criminal defense lawyers from across the State of Montana to form the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. I was elected and served as Secretary / Treasurer, then Vice President, and ultimately President of the organization, finishing my two-year term in February 2003. I am a lifetime member of the organization.

I attended Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College in June of 2000, a month-long course at the college's ranch in Dubois, Wyoming, working with the best in the business to improve my skills as a trial lawyer.

In the fall of 2003, I was retained by the ACLU to be an expert witness in their lawsuit against the State of Montana, alleging an inadequate public defense system. I testified before the legislative subcommittee charged with studying model public defense systems and sponsoring legislation to overhaul Montana's system. The Montana Legislature passed the comprehensive Montana Public Defender Act in 2005, and the ACLU agreed to dismiss its suit.

In 2003, I accepted nomination to the position of Secretary / Treasurer of the Montana Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, an organization of both civil and criminal lawyers who practice extensively in Federal Court. I remain in this position today.

Our overarching philosophy at Smith & Stephens PC Law Offices is that we are here to serve people. In order to do this most effectively, we spend time getting to know our clients, to "get inside their hides," to feel what it is like to be them – accused by the government of committing some crime. This stems from training at Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College. At the College, we learned psychodramatic techniques geared toward bringing our client's story into the courtroom. Only a handful of lawyers are admitted each year and are personally selected by Mr. Spence himself. The Trial Lawyers College teaches us to take the time to really understand how it feels to be the person we are representing. In this way we are able to pull their story from our hearts, creating the probability the jury will feel it in their hearts as well.

I have represented people from all walks of life. I was the lawyer for a Native American-owned construction company that had contracted with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to build homes for Blackfeet tribal members in northern Montana. The company and 11 tribal members were charged in federal court with 15 counts involving conspiracy, fraud, bribery, money laundering and theft of government monies. After a lengthy trial and deliberation, the jury acquitted all defendants on eight counts. The remaining seven counts ended in a mistrial or by Rule 29 acquittals. The government ultimately dismissed the mistrial counts.

As a lawyer defending people accused of crimes, I consider myself and others who work in this arena to be law enforcement officers of the highest order, because we seek to enforce the Constitution and the peoples’ rights guaranteed by it.
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