Robert T. Smith heads the Finance and Commercial Transactions Practice Group and serves on the firm’s Management Committee. His diverse corporate practice focuses on representing companies and financial institutions in general business, transactional, securities and regulatory matters. He has handled transactions in a variety of areas including the banking, healthcare, real estate and technology industries.

In the banking area, Robert advises clients on regulatory compliance, merger and acquisition transactions, lending, and capital raising activities. He assists clients in private equity and corporate finance matters, the offering of debt and equity securities, and counseling directors and executive officers regarding fiduciary duties and corporate governance issues. Robert also regularly represents professionals and professional firms in the formation, expansion, merger, and division of professional practices.

• University of Florida College of Law, LL.M. in Taxation, 2001
  • Graduate Editor, Florida Tax Review
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law, J.D., With Honors, 1999
  • Associate Editor, Law Review
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock, B.S., With Honors, Accounting, 1996

• Certified Public Accountant (Registered Inactive), Arkansas
• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, since 2013
  • Securities/Capital Markets Law
  • Tax Law
  • Corporate Law
  • Banking and Finance Law
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Law
  • Named "Lawyer of the Year"
    • Banking and Finance Law, Little Rock, 2020
    • Securities and Capital Markets Law, 2016, 2019, 2021
• Named by Arkansas Business and Little Rock Soirée, "Best Lawyers in Little Rock," Tax, 2017
• Named to 40 Under 40 list, Arkansas Business, 2013
• Ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers  Business, Corporate/Commercial
• Selected to the Mid-South Super Lawyers List, 2019
  • Rising Star, 2008
• Voted by the readers of AY Magazine for inclusion in the “Best Lawyers in Arkansas,” Tax Law, 2018
• Publication: 
  • Dodd-Frank: "What Every Community Banker Should Know," November 2010 edition of The Arkansas Banker
  • Small Business Lending Fund Program, February 2011 edition of The Arkansas Banker
  • JOBS Act, Guest Column, Arkansas Business, April 9, 2015
  • Crowd Funding, Expert Advice, Arkansas Business, November 23, 2015

• Arkansas Development Finance Authority
• Arkansas Urology
• Bank of 1889
• Bank of England
• Canada Bancshares, Inc. 
• Capital Bancshares, Inc.
• Chambers Bancshares
• Chambers Bank
• Citizens Bancshares
• Cornerstone Clinic
• Coulson Oil Company 
• Cross County Bank
• Encore Bank
• Endodontic Associates of Arkansas
• Farmers & Merchants Bank
• Farmers Bank
• Farmers Bank & Trust
• First Bank Corporation
• First Carroll Bankshares, Inc.
• First Financial Banc Corporation 
• First Financial Bank
• First National Bank of Fort Smith
• First National Bank of Paris
• First Orion Corporation 
• First Service Bancshares
• First Service Bank
• First State Bank
• First State Banking Corporation
• Gateway Bank 
• GBMc & Associates, Inc.
• Generations Bank 
• George's, Inc.
• Harrell Bancshares, Inc.
• Magnolia Banking Corporation
• MedEvolve, Inc.
• Merchants & Farmers Bank 
• Orion Capital Partners Central, L.L.C.
• Partners Bank
• PinPoint Testing, LLC
• Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, Ltd.
• Rausch Coleman Homes
• Rubber & Gasket Company of America, Inc.
• S&H Systems, Inc.
• Share Foundation 
• Simmons Bank
• Southern Bancorp
• Student Mobilization
• The Citizens Bank
• Union Bank

• American Bar Association
• American Heart Association – Central Arkansas, Member of Corporate Committee, 2012-2013
• Arkansas Bar Association, Tax Section; Chairman, 2008-2009
• Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accountants (ASCPA), Taxation Committee; Federal Tax Institute Committee, Co-Chair 2006, 2008
• Arkansas Rice Depot, Board of Directors, 2003-2008
• Arkansas Urology Foundation, Board of Directors
• Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Board of Directors, 2012-2018
• Leadership Arkansas, Class IV
• Risk Management Association, Board of Directors, 2014-2020

• Arkansas, 1999