For more than 25 years, Michele Y. Smith has represented clients in complex litigation matters. Her practice has spanned a wide variety of areas including products and premises liability, pharmaceutical, commercial and construction defect litigation. She has also represented a variety of businesses in sophisticated mass tort causes of action involving numerous chemical substances and exposures. She currently serves as President of the International Association of Defense Counsel, in which she previously served as the past Chair of the CLE and In-House Law Firm Management Committees. She is the current Chair of the Firm’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee.
Michele is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is well known in the legal community for her leadership skills across multiple legal organizations. She has served as a past president of the Texas Association of Defense Counsel, a past president of the Jefferson County Bar Association, and a past president of the Jefferson County Young Lawyers’ Association. She is an Advocate member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and previously served on the board of the Lamar University Foundation. She was also named as a member of the Texas Pattern Jury Charge Committee for Products Liability (2003-2020).
Michele has been honored with numerous accolades over the years. She has been recognized in the Best Lawyers® “Lawyer of the Year” in Beaumont for Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (2015), Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants (2017), Insurance Law (2017, 2023), Litigation – Insurance (2024), and Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants (2019). Michele has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for multiple years. She has also received the President’s Award by the Texas Association of Defense Counsel (2010) and has been selected to the Texas Super Lawyers List by Thompson Reuters every year for over a decade (2005-2023). She has been honored by the Jefferson County Bar Association with the Cris Quinn Award (2014) and the Kenneth Lewis Professionalism Award (2019). She was named recipient of the St. Thomas More Award in 2017.
Outside of her work at MehaffyWeber, Michele dedicates time and energy to her community through volunteer work and pro bono legal services. Michele has served on the boards of several philanthropic organizations and volunteered at numerous events, including the Spindletop Spin bike ride to raise funds for legal-aid programs, the Julie Rogers Gift of Life Program, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, and the Shorkey Center, which offers physical rehabilitation services for children with special-needs.