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Jeffrey D. Smith

Partner


Cleveland/Columbus

t:440.838.8800

f:440.838.8805

Email

Service Focus

  • Employee Benefits and Tax
  • Labor Relations
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Reductions in Force (RIFs)

Industry Focus

  • Education
  • Manufacturing
  • Non-Profit and Tax-Exempt Organizations

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Overview
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Overview

Jeff Smith helps clients develop and implement successful strategies for responding to a broad range of employee benefits and compensation issues, including retirement plans, health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and other employment-related benefits. He ensures they comply with federal, state, and local laws and regulations, like the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), among others. He guides them through the design and implementation of benefit plans, including advising on tax implications and other regulatory compliance and reporting of their benefits strategy. And he spends considerable time on executive compensation, multiemployer pension plan advice, and employee benefits issues in mergers and acquisitions.

Jeff’s strengths include counseling clients of all types – for-profit businesses and corporations, non-for-profit entities, private schools, and others – on compensation issues for their top leaders. This involves negotiating and drafting employment and compensation agreements and all types of incentive compensation plans.

In addition, working closely with his labor relations colleagues, Jeff advises employers contributing to multiemployer pension plans on withdrawals and withdrawal liability and helps employers minimize their costs. Finally, he helps buyers and sellers of businesses facilitate employee benefits issues in their transactions. For many merger and acquisition clients, Jeff coordinates the Fisher Phillips team with outside corporate counsel.

Jeff is devoted to helping clients remain competitive in an evolving business market, providing them with the solid foundations they need to meet – and overcome – the challenges they face, from new and novel market entrants to the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence as a business strategy, and everything in between.

Credentials

Education

  • J.D., 2004, cum laude, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
  • B.S., 2001, summa cum laude, Baldwin Wallace University

Bar Admissions

  • Ohio

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio

Recognitions

  • Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (2016 – 2025)
  • Selected for inclusion in Ohio Super Lawyers - Rising Star 
  • Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America - Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law (2020)

Affiliations

Professional Activities

  • Ohio State Bar Association

Community Activities

  • Symphony West Orchestra

Insights

  • Insights

    01/30/25

    Ohio Public Schools Must Update Policies on Curriculum Content and Religious Instruction: 6 Key Takeaways From New “Parents’ Bill of Rights” Law

    Melissa A. Dials, Jeffrey D. Smith, Jessi Ziska

    Read more 

  • Insights

    12/03/24

    Ohio’s New “Bathroom Ban” Law Restricts Transgender Student Access: 5 Things Schools Should Do

    Melissa A. Dials, Sarah Moore, Jeffrey D. Smith

    Read more 

  • Event

    07/25/24

    Employee Benefits Issues That Keep Contractors Up at Night

    Robert C. Christenson, Jeffrey D. Smith

    Read more 

  • News

    07/23/24

    Attorneys Quoted By McKnight’s Senior Living for Their Post-Chevron Era Insight

    Terri R. Stewart, Ashton M. Riley, Jeffrey D. Smith

    Read more 

  • Insights

    07/19/24

    Is the Post-Chevron Era All It’s Cracked Up to Be? 4 Reasons Businesses Might Not Celebrate the New Normal

    Terri R. Stewart, Ashton M. Riley, Jeffrey D. Smith

    Read more 

  • Event

    04/30/24

    Labor Relations in a Time of Increasing Unionization: An Immersive Boot Camp Hosted by FP Cleveland

    Melanie L. Webber, David E. Schreiner, Jeffrey D. Smith, Rick Grimaldi, Raeann Burgo, Brian Balonick, Gary D. Baker, Jr.

    Read more 

  • News

    01/24/24

    Cleveland Partner Discusses Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans Aimed at Eliminating Student Debt

    Jeffrey D. Smith

    Read more 

  • Event

    10/04/23

    Cleveland Breakfast Briefing: WARNing…Avoiding Pitfalls and Compliance Tips for Workforce Reductions

    Richard A. Millisor, Jeffrey D. Smith, Amy L. Kullik, Melissa A. Dials

    Read more 

  • News

    06/29/23

    McKnight’s Once Again Turns to Cleveland Partner for Insights on Omnibus Bill

    Jeffrey D. Smith

    Read more 

  • Event

    05/17/23

    WARNing…Avoiding Pitfalls and Compliance Tips for Workforce Reductions

    Richard A. Millisor, Melissa A. Dials, Amy L. Kullik, Jeffrey D. Smith, Gary D. Baker, Jr.

    Read more 

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