Vorys Adds New Partner to Corporate and Finance Group

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP announced today that Jeffery E. Smith became a partner in the firm’s Columbus office.  With more than 30 years experience in a wide range of intricate financial, regulatory and general corporate matters, Smith will join the Vorys corporate and finance practice group, which is comprised of more than 60 attorneys practicing in the firm’s six offices.

Smith specializes in board and governance matters, complex commercial financings, community banking policy, mergers and acquisitions and other financial institution legal and regulatory matters. He will bring his vast experience counseling clients on corporate, regulatory compliance and enforcement matters to the firm.  John C. Vorys, chair of the firm’s corporate and finance practice group, said that Smith will strengthen the financial institutions practice of the firm.

“We are all very pleased that Jeff decided to join our firm,” Vorys said.  “In addition to being a wonderful person and great participant in community organizations, Jeff has developed a well-deserved reputation among the regional and community bankers in Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere for his excellent lawyering skills, comprehensive knowledge and specific expertise in corporate and financial institutions law and regulation.  His arrival will positively affect not only the corporate and finance practice group, but also our entire firm.”

Smith was most recently a partner in the Columbus office of Bricker & Eckler LLP. In addition, he has served as in-house counsel for Bank One Corporation; senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Lincoln Financial Corporation in Fort Wayne, IN; executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Trustcorp, Inc. in Toledo, OH; and former special consultant to the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions.

A member of the Ohio State Bar Association, where he previously served as the co-chair of the association’s financial institutions subcommittee, Smith has presented seminars on a wide range of financial institution topics, including merger and acquisition issues for financial institutions, corporate governance for community bank directors and the practical implications of bank regulatory enforcement actions.  Smith is a regular speaker at regional events sponsored by the Ohio Bankers League.

Smith received his law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo.  Smith is a member of the Indiana State Bar Association and the Columbus and Toledo Bar associations.

Vorys was established in 1909 and has grown to be one of the largest Ohio-based law firms with nearly 375 attorneys in six offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; and Houston, Texas. Vorys currently ranks as one of the 200 largest law firms in the United States according to American Lawyer magazine.