Outside counsel. Business perspective.
Experienced legal judgment for companies, entrepreneurs, owners, and leadership teams—without building a full in-house legal department.
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Services
Ongoing legal support for companies that need experienced counsel but do not require a full-time in-house legal department.
This may include contract review, corporate governance, risk management, business disputes, strategic planning, negotiations, and regular legal guidance for ownership and management.
Guidance for entrepreneurs and founders at the beginning stages of a business, including entity formation, ownership structure, operating and partnership agreements, early contracts, and practical legal frameworks for growth.
Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating contracts that support the business while managing risk. This may include service agreements, vendor agreements, customer contracts, confidentiality agreements, consulting agreements, and other commercial documents.
Assistance with the internal legal structure of a business, including company records, ownership rights, management authority, operating agreements, shareholder matters, board or member actions, and disputes among owners.
Legal support for business transactions, expansions, acquisitions, sales, restructurings, investment arrangements, and other significant company projects.
Some business challenges do not fit neatly into a legal box. Smith Corporate Counsel can also serve as a strategic sounding board for owners and leadership teams facing questions about structure, risk, growth, partnerships, operations, negotiations, or major decisions.
This advisory role is especially useful when legal judgment, business experience, and practical strategy overlap.
David Smith is an attorney and business advisor with more than 25 years of experience helping companies, entrepreneurs, owners, and leadership teams navigate the legal and practical issues that arise in business.
David earned his law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1998 and a Master's in Public Administration from Florida State University. He completed his undergraduate work at Stetson University. His education, combined with decades of legal and business experience, gives him a practical perspective on the relationship between law, governance, ownership, risk, and business decision-making.
Through Smith Corporate Counsel, David provides outside general counsel services, corporate legal guidance, startup support, contract review and negotiation, governance advice, transaction support, and strategic counsel for businesses that need experienced legal judgment without building a full in-house legal department.
David’s background includes both private practice and in-house general counsel work, giving him a practical understanding of how legal issues actually arise inside a business. He has advised companies on contracts, corporate transactions, private placements, governance matters, ownership issues, business disputes, and strategic projects across multiple industries.
His approach is straightforward: legal advice should be clear, practical, and connected to the realities of the business. A legal issue is rarely just a legal issue. It may affect relationships, cash flow, ownership, reputation, and long-term plans. David works with clients to understand the larger context, identify practical options, and help them make informed decisions.
Smith Corporate Counsel is designed for businesses that need more than document preparation but may not need a full-time general counsel. The firm offers flexible support for startups, growing companies, established businesses, and owners facing important decisions.
David also brings an entrepreneur-minded perspective to his work. In addition to advising businesses, he has been involved in business ownership, civic leadership, nonprofit initiatives, and community projects. That broader experience helps him serve not only as legal counsel, but also as a strategic sounding board for clients thinking through structure, risk, growth, partnerships, and opportunity.
Smith Corporate Counsel exists to provide practical legal counsel where business, risk, and strategy meet.
Smith Corporate Counsel
To discuss how Smith Corporate Counsel may be able to help, contact David C. Smith directly.
Contacting this firm does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not make your information confidential. Please do not send confidential or time-sensitive details until we have signed a written engagement agreement. No attorney-client relationship is formed until we have checked for conflicts of interest, agreed in writing to represent you, and you have signed a written engagement agreement. David Smith is licensed to practice law in the State of Georgia only.