Brent H. Smith

Brent H. Smith is a trial lawyer in La Grande. He represents the people of rural Eastern Oregon in disputes over their land: families, farmers, ranchers and business owners whose boundaries, water, access and title are at stake. His work is to make a complicated matter clear, to the client and then to the court.

He has tried more than forty cases to a court or a jury in the state and federal courts, more than thirty of them to juries, and he handles the appeals that follow. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants: property and boundary disputes, condemnation, personal injury and wrongful death, property damage from fire and from farm and livestock operations, business disputes, and the defense of insureds retained by their insurers. He also serves as a court-appointed arbitrator in the Eastern Oregon counties.

Brent H. Smith grew up in the family agribusiness in the Pahvant Valley of Utah, where his father liked to remind him that if the law did not work out he had at least been trained as a heavy-equipment operator. He studied at Southern Utah University and the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, and has practiced in La Grande since 2006. He is a musician, has sung leading roles at the Elgin Opera House since 2009, and with his wife, Jeannette Smith, is raising a family in La Grande.