Troy K. Smith (not to be confused with another local attorney, R. Troy Smith) is a commercial law attorney for Rogers Towers in Jacksonville and specializes in construction litigation. He is also taking over in July as the president-elect of the Jacksonville Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section.
What other firms has he practiced with?
None. Smith has been with Rogers Towers in Jacksonville since he graduated from law school in 1996. In fact, there are two other lawyers that started at the firm on the same day as Smith. All are still there.
Education
Smith started his education at St. Johns River Community College where he played for the school’s baseball team. Though a small baseball program, Smith boasts that he played on the last team to have a winning season there. From there he went to the University of Florida where he received a B.A. in political science. He received his J.D. from Stetson University’s College of Law.
Hobbies
Surfing, weight lifting and fishing, mainly inshore for redfish. His biggest catch is a 36-inch red.
Family
None yet. Smith is a bachelor and lives in Ponte Vedra.
Why Jacksonville?
“I grew up in Palatka and Jacksonville was the closest big city. When I graduated from law school, I wanted to move to a bigger city near Palatka because I have a lot of family there.”
Why have you remained with the same firm since law school?
“This is a great firm. It has a really nice family atmosphere and they foster an atmosphere that makes you want to come to work in the morning. It is also a pretty casual workplace.”
What drew Smith to commercial and construction litigation?
While he was in the firm’s St. Augustine office for about two years, Smith said the firm was looking to break its commercial litigation department into subgroups, one group being construction litigation. “It was an area of law that had a lot of work lined up and I just gravitated to it,” he said. Smith also said that he worked on construction sites between semesters in college and was pretty familiar with the industry.
What is the biggest issue regarding your area of expertise?
“There are all kinds of problems with delay claims and defective work claims. A trend that is developing with condos built on the ocean is that we are seeing a lot of litigation coming around recently that results from water inclusion claims...Mold tends to be the new toxic tort that everyone is worried with. Mold has been in Florida for many years but it is the new hot topic for litigation.”
What do most people not know about construction litigation?
“The detail required to properly litigate any construction claim. All of the claims are very document intensive and you have to be very detail oriented...You are basically taking a two or three year construction project and having to learn it in a few months through only documents.”
-Kent Jennings Brockwell