Douglas A. Smith

Douglas Smith litigates complex matters before trial and appellate courts. His diverse practice has concentrated on tax-related class actions, securities, civil and criminal insider trading, and antitrust. Representative matters in which Mr. Smith has been involved include:

• Credit Acceptance Corporation in obtaining summary judgment on antitrust claims seeking approximately $1 billion in damages arising from the allegedly fraudulent acquisition and enforcement of a patent in the indirect auto lending market. The Daily Journal named the decision one of the Top Verdicts of 2017;
• JP Morgan Chase in an antitrust class action involving alleged price fixing and other anti-competitive restraints by Visa and MasterCard members;
• Bank of America in federal class actions regarding alleged underreporting of home mortgage interest payments on Internal Revenue Service Form 1098;
• American Apparel in shareholder derivative and proxy solicitation fraud lawsuits and in various corporate takeover matters;
• Jawbone in a trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract lawsuit against Fitbit in state court;
• Credit Acceptance Corporation in a federal antitrust case involving claims of monopolization predicated on alleged patent fraud;
• Bank of America in state court appeals regarding the taxation of the bank’s income and fees from its credit card operations;

Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Smith gained extensive federal government service, including with the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, the Department of Justice, the FDIC, Freddie Mac, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Mr. Smith has a strong commitment to pro bono work and civic engagement. In 2017, Mr. Smith was the recipient of the State Bar of California’s Jack Berman Award of Achievement, which recognizes exemplary pro bono service provided by young lawyers.

He serves on the nonprofit boards of Reframe Labs, Inc., an incubator that helps launch innovative public schools in Los Angeles, and The Samburu Project, which provides clean water to the Samburu region of Kenya by drilling water wells.

Previously, he co-founded and served as a board member for Global Playground, a nonprofit focused on improving education in developing countries. He also spends hundreds of hours each year on pro bono cases, which have involved torts, nonprofit incorporation and tax-exempt status, immigration, false advertising, contract disputes and the death penalty.

Education:

• J.D., The College of William & Mary, 2006 (Managing Editor, Law Review; Moot Court)
• M.A., The Catholic University of America, 2003 (International Political Economics; Teaching Assistant in Statistics)
• B.A., The Catholic University of America, 2002 (magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa; NCAA baseball)

Admissions:

• California
• New York

Associations:

• Board of Directors, The Samburu Project
• Board of Directors, Reframe Labs, Inc.