Laurel Smith

Meet Laurel Smith, Attorney at Smith Duran Law. Her Practice Focuses On Workers’ Compensation, Personal Injury, Landlord/Tenant, Estate Planning, and Probate

Laurel Smith has practiced law since 1975 and has provided legal services at the Rochester, Washington office since 1978. Ms. Smith’s current focus of practice is personal injury, landlord/tenant, estate planning and probate, and general civil litigation.

Ms. Smith is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law. She is an Eagle member of the Washington State Association for Justice (WSAJ, formerly Washington State Trial Lawyers Association), where she served on the Board of Directors and various committees and as the chair of the WSAJ Thurston County Round Table. She is a member of the Thurston and Lewis County Bar Associations.

Ms. Smith has provided pro bono legal services throughout her career: her firm received the Thurston County Volunteer Legal Clinic’s 2007 Award for pro bono services; she was awarded the American Bar Association Family Law Section pro bono award in 2001 and has been recognized by the Washington State Bar for over 50 hours of pro bono service per year since 2003. She had provided pro bono legal services through both the Thurston County Volunteer Legal Clinic and the Lewis County Legal Aid Clinic. She has served on the pro bono committee of the Washington State Bar Association.

Ms. Smith volunteers as a settlement conference judge in Thurston County District Court and has acted as a judge pro tem in Lewis County District Court. She acts as an arbitrator in Lewis, Thurston, and Grays Harbor counties. She is an officer and director of Rochester Community Services (ROOF), and she is active in Taekwon-Do where she has earned a 5th-degree black belt.

She received the 2013 Thurston County Bar Association’s Bigelow award for the lawyer of the year in recognition of outstanding professional and community service. WSAJ awarded her the Alvin Andersen award for service in 2004. She has served as the chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of WSAJ and worked on the IME (Independent Medical Exam) Improvement Committee established by the Department of Labor and Industries as the WSAJ/Labor member for over seven years. She is a member of the Lewis County Farm Forestry Association.