Larry J. Smith
Practice Emphasis
BAR ADMISSIONS
Washington, 1983
______________________________________________________________________As chair of Graham & Dunn's Condemnation Team, Larry counsels and represents property owners, lenders and governments in condemnation cases. Larry has achieved verdicts or settlements for property owners in some of the region's largest eminent domain cases, including the expansion of the Washington State Convention Center ($15.3 million verdict), the condemnation of a Weyerhaeuser lease by the Port of Tacoma (undisclosed settlement during trial), the condemnation of residential subdivision land in Kenmore ($7.6 million verdict), the condemnation of property for the U.S. Courthouse property in Seattle ($25 million settlement), the expansion of the University of Washington Tacoma Campus ($1.9 million verdict), the condemnation of a major water dependent property ($2.2 million verdict), the condemnation by the Washington State Ferry System of a small shipyard on Bainbridge Island ($4.1 million verdict), the condemnation by the Seattle Monorail of the Denny's site at 15th & Market in Ballard ($7. 5 million settlement), and the condemnation by the City of Seattle for expansion of the Fremont Transfer Station ($8.5 million settlement).
Larry also leads the Condemnation Team's representation of many of the region's condemnors, which have included Sound Transit, the City of Everett, the City of Federal Way, the City of Lacey, the City of Olympia, and the City of Tumwater, as well as several Ports and School Districts. Graham & Dunn’s Condemnation Team has filed more than 200 condemnations for Sound Transit and has settled nearly 98% of those cases. In those few cases where trials were necessary, our trial teams achieved verdicts in each case that were at or very near the condemnor's appraised value.
PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS
Co-Author, "Over and Under: A Practical Guide to the Condemnation of Aerial Guideway and Tunnel Easements," Proceedings of the Institute on Planning, Zoning, and Eminent Domain (Matthew Bender 2006).
Co-Editor, Chapter 6, 7A, 14 and 14a: "Nichols on Eminent Domain" (3rd ed. 2007, Matthew Bender).
Co-Editor, Part Eighteen: Eminent Domain, “Washington Lawyers' Practice Manual," King County Bar Association (2005, 2006 update).
Editor, "How to Try a Land Use Case," American Bar Association (2000).
PROFESSIONAL And COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Member, American Bar Association Section on Litigation, Condemnation Committee
Board Member, Alki Foundation
Member, American Rivers
Chair, Advisory Committee re: Eminent Domain, Patterned Jury Instructions
RECOGNITION
Washington Law & Politics, “Super Lawyer,” 2002 - 2010
Best Lawyers, “Best Lawyers in America,” 2009
Washington Law & Politics, “Top 100 Lawyers in Washington,” 2008
Washington CEO, League of Justice, 2006
EDUCATION
J.D., with highest honors, University of Puget Sound School of Law, 1983
B.A., Mathematics, UCLA, 1969
