Douglas C. Smith serves as Of Counsel in the Inland Empire office at Manning Kass. He is a member of the Governmental Entity Liability team.

He is a trial lawyer and previously owned and was the managing partner at Smith Law Offices, a litigation and trial law firm in Riverside, California. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1983 from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio with a major in Economics; and a law degree from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio in 1986.  Awards included being a member of the University’s Law Review, and its National Moot Court Team. While in law school, he also received the American Jurisprudence Award for Constitutional Law.
 
Following law school, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, where he served in the Judge Advocate General program, attaining the rank of Captain. After Marine Corps service and his honorable discharge, he continued his service in the California Air National Guard where retired as a Lieutenant Colonel/Judge Advocate in the California Air National Guard. His assignments included serving as the senior judge advocate at the state level, overseeing accident investigations, and prosecuting numerous military cases.
 
From 1993 until 2003, Mr. Smith worked for a large Los Angeles-based litigation firm achieving partner status, where his practice was focused on civil litigation defense in the Los Angeles area. The firm was panel counsel for some of the  largest  insurance  carriers  in the nation and numerous public entities throughout Southern California. He tried multiple jury trials there as well as starting the firm’s employment law practice group. After transferring to the firm’s Riverside office in 1997, Mr. Smith decided to start his own litigation and trial firm in 2003. At Smith Law Offices, LLP, he led a boutique litigation and trial firm in the Inland Empire specializing in public entity defense in state and federal jurisdictions.
 
Mr. Smith has extensive civil litigation and jury trial experience at the state and federal levels, having tried more than 50 cases, including civil and criminal/military cases to verdict. He has won over 95% of his civil  jury trials, and has tried cases in  most of the major counties in California, including Riverside, San  Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura Counties. At one time, he had 23 straight defense verdicts. In the area of civil rights litigation, he has defended many public entities, and represented hundreds of government officials, from law enforcement officers to HR directors to elected officials, and has extensive experience both in state and federal court in the child abuse and neglect sector. 
 
He is an associate in the American Board of Trial Advocates, a prestigious invitation only national organization with membership restricted to experienced trial lawyers (minimum 20 jury trials) who have demonstrated competency and civility in the courtroom. Cases he has tried to verdict include civil rights, excessive force and false arrest, employment discrimination, wrongful death, medical malpractice, personal injury, fraud, breach of contract, and military courts-martials.
 
His primary practice is focused on defense civil  litigation and trial services in the area of civil rights litigation, police/social worker defense, employment discrimination, general tort liability, and healthcare litigation. He also represents veterans in medical malpractice litigation with the Veterans Administration
 
He is a member in good standing of the California State Bar, the Federal Bar Association, the United States District Court for the Central, Eastern and Northern Districts of California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims, and for the Armed Forces.  He and his family reside in Riverside, CA.