The Philadelphia office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig announced the addition of Shareholder Sherman W. Smith III to its Corporate Practice.
Smith has built a portfolio practice, advising and representing clients ranging from some of the nation’s largest financial institutions to privately-held businesses and investors to commercial real estate developers of all sizes.
“Sherman helps further fill out the corporate services this office offers local clients as well as globally-situated ones,” said Curtis B. Toll, managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Philadelphia office. “He is a well-experienced middle market practitioner whose finance knowledge is as comprehensive about private equity issues as it is about real estate matters.
“We value his local and national relationships with long-standing clients and businesses as well as his commitment to community uplift, and know he will play a strong role in further serving the wide range of sectors we continue to cultivate,” Toll added.
Smith built much of his three-decades-long career at Buchanan Ingersoll as a corporate attorney with a diverse portfolio of clients and transactional matters, sans time spent as associate general counsel for Don King Productions, Inc., from 1999-2002. In private practice, Smith has routinely handled complex matters involving mergers and acquisitions, formation, and capital raises of private equity funds, including capital deployment, among others.
“The broad experiences and insights Sherman possesses and deploys enhances our offerings in Philadelphia, advances our strategic growth, and furthers our commitment to providing high-level, sophisticated services,” Greenberg Traurig Global Corporate Practice Co-Chair Bruce I. March said. “He has the acumen to leverage our platform to benefit and elevate our clients and, by extension, our firm.”
Smith, who grew up bicoastally between Philadelphia and Los Angeles, graduated from Central High School, Morehouse College, and the Howard University School of Law with honors – the third generation of his family to do such. Both his father and grandfather served as judges on the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Since 2016, Smith has served on the board of directors for Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center, the workforce and education development nonprofit founded by pioneering civil rights activist and corporate tactician the Rev. Dr. Leon H. Sullivan. Sullivan, who believed in and preached “economic emancipation,” developed the first Black-owned and managed commercial shopping plaza in the United States, served as a Fortune 500 corporate board member, and was an early proponent of corporate social responsibility doctrines. In Sullivan’s mold, Smith focuses a considerable segment of his practice to real estate finance work centered on creating opportunities for visionary commercial developers of color nationwide. Those range from affordable housing to commercial corridor creation and expansion efforts led by nontraditional real estate development and investment teams.
“In Sherman we have a seasoned lawyer who does not see client service and project profitability as mutually exclusive to creative solutions for civic challenges,” said Joshua D. Cohen, co-chair of the Philadelphia Real Estate Practice. “His deep knowledge of the development community in this region – its players, trends, and possibilities – will serve this firm and our clients well. We’re excited to have him on the team.”