Akerman Litigation Practice Group Partner and firm board member Grasford W. Smith has been named to the Board of Trustees of New York University School of Law (NYU Law), his alma mater. Grasford is one of six alumni who joined the board in October.
Grasford earned his Juris Doctor at NYU Law, where he was a Dean’s Scholar, a Vanderbilt Medal recipient, and the co-founder and inaugural executive editor of the NYU Journal of Law & Business. He also serves on the advisory board of the NYU Law Alumni of Color Association.
A nationally recognized litigator, Grasford represents Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, financial institutions, insurers, and professional sports organizations in high-stakes commercial disputes and complex contractual matters. He has secured multimillion-dollar settlements and favorable outcomes across industries and jurisdictions and is a Florida Supreme Court-certified mediator.
Grasford has chaired audit, finance, nominating, and governance committees across multiple sectors. He serves as vice president of finance for the National Bar Association and on The Florida Bar Board of Governors, where he chairs the Communications Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee. He also sits on the Florida State University College of Business Executive Committee.
Grasford’s appointment comes on the heels of several recent honors, including being named to the CBC Power 100 in the Legal category and receiving the National Bar Association’s President’s Award. The Florida Bar also recognized him with its President’s Award of Merit and Young Lawyers Division Cynthia Henry Duval Outreach Award. He has been consistently listed among Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America,” and, in Florida, by Best Lawyers for commercial litigation, and by Super Lawyers Magazine for business litigation.