About Will Smith

Will has over 14 years of experience representing and advising large institutional clients in disputes and civil litigation. This career has afforded him a number of insights as to how organizations and institutions make decisions regarding litigation, risk management, and negotiations. Will’s practice focuses on eminent domain and land condemnation; zoning and land use disputes; construction litigation; as well as general civil litigation.

Will graduated from Campbell Law School in 2007 and went to work at Hedrick, Gardner, Kincheloe & Garofalo, a law firm that primarily represents insurance companies in civil disputes. At Hedrick Gardner, Will gained experience in multiple areas of the law, including personal injury litigation, construction litigation, and workers’ compensation. While at Hedrick Gardner, Will’s experience showed him how large insurance companies make decisions regarding settlement negotiations and litigation.

In 2012, Will went to work at McGuireWoods, an international law firm with over 1,000 attorneys, where he represented one of the largest banks in the country in mortgage disputes and Fair Credit Reporting Act cases. During his time at McGuireWoods, Will gained experience in Federal litigation and saw how large financial institutions litigate against individuals.

In 2014, Will decided to pursue public service and took a position as Deputy General Counsel with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). As Deputy GC, Will advised the NCDOT on a broad array of legal issues and saw how the Department made decisions from the inside.

In 2017, Will was asked to join the Transportation Section of the NC Department of Justice as an Assistant Attorney General, where he represented the NCDOT in court and helped to oversee and manage the “Map Act” litigation, a project that included over 500 cases across the State of North Carolina and involved a novel area of eminent domain law. After working on the Map Act litigation and helping to see the first cases through trial and appeal to the NC Supreme Court, Will switched his focus to representing the NCDOT in general condemnation cases (i.e. eminent domain). In general condemnation cases the NCDOT is taking property for the purpose of constructing transportation projects. While serving as an Assistant Attorney General, Will was involved in numerous jury trials and represented the NCDOT in every phase of eminent domain litigation.

Will completed his undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech, where he worked his way through college as a bartender and server. While at VT, Will was also awarded the Wachovia Merit Scholarship and worked for the admissions office.