Wayne Smith grew up in West Los Angeles and received a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from U.C.L.A. in 1981. Mr. Smith then received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, in 1985. While at McGeorge, Mr. Smith was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for Constitutional Law and was also awarded the Verne Adrian and Annabel McGeorge Academic Scholarship in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements.

Mr. Smith spent the first half of his legal career on the defense bar and was an associate at Charlston, Revich &Williams and later, a partner at Lewis, D’Amato, Brisbois, and Bisgaard, defending claims against employers sued for wrongful termination, discrimination and harassment in violation of California Government Code §12940, as well as defending professional liability matters, including legal malpractice, accountant, real estate brokers and financial advisors.

Mr. Smith became associated with the Law Offices of Victor L. George in 1990 and later became a partner in the Firm, and since that time, his practice consists predominantly of representation of employees in claims for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblowing and wrongful termination. In this capacity, Mr. Smith has tried or arbitrated numerous cases, as well as negotiating multiple seven-figure settlements of employment matters.

Mr. Smith also has extensive appellate experience from numerous writs and appeals, which have resulted in three published opinions, Hope v. California Youth Authority, 134 Cal. App. 4th 577 (2005); Claudio v. Regents of the University of California, 134 Cal.App.4th 224 (2005) and Curtis v. Kellog & Andelson, 73 Cal.App.4th 492 (1999). Mr. Smith has also been named as one of the Southern California Super Lawyers in both 2005 and 2006, and is a member of several professional organizations including the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, and the California Employment Lawyers Association.