Smith & Bent represents businesses. The firm handles business disputes in state and federal courts and before the American Arbitration Association and other arbitral bodies. Attorneys at Smith & Bent have sought and defended temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions, as well as handling evidentiary hearings, bench and jury trials and appeals. Attorneys at Smith & Bent have also handled hundreds of commercial arbitrations and the conversion of arbitral awards to judgment.

The attorneys at Smith & Bent have represented their business clients in securities, employment, environmental, non-competition and antitrust, intellectual property, insurance coverage, franchise, dealer and distributor, products and premises liability and general commercial litigation.

Smith & Bent also counsels clients on regulatory and general business matters and advises clients in business formations, capital transactions and the sale and purchase of businesses. Our attorneys' current and recent experiences and engagements include:

- Defending a high-profile employment discrimination class action brought by the EEOC and successfully limiting the scope of the class seeking relief.

- Defending an arbitration of claims for trade secret misappropriation and business torts exceeding $100 million. The award after a week-long arbitration was for less than 1%t of the damages sought.

- Obtaining a judgment and settlement totaling approximately $5 million on behalf of the plaintiff in a case alleging breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

- Defending numerous regulatory actions and claims in litigation relating to alleged environmental contamination on a former manufacturing site in central Florida.

- Defending claims against a securities issuer and its officers and directors in the consolidated IPO litigation action pending in federal court in New York.

- Representing an acquiring company in its agreements with investment bankers.

- Counseling clients in employee terminations, and defending employers against discrimination and wage payment claims brought by terminated employees.

- Preparing comprehensive employment handbooks and agreements, including protections for trade secrets.

- Designing a client's long-term equity incentive plan

In short, the attorneys at Smith & Bent handle the same types of matters handled at large law firms. The firm prides itself on providing individual attention to its matters and delivering value through efficiency and reasonable billing rates.