Duckor Metzger & Wynne Senior Counsel Nate Smith, a member of the Business Litigation and Employment practice groups, handles all manner of business and commercial litigation. He has experience with consumer class action defense, employment matters, partnership and joint venture disputes and trade secrets and intellectual property litigation.
Nate focuses on finding the best outcomes for clients at the earliest litigation stage. Clients rely on Nate to help them navigate complex and difficult challenges. Utilizing his years of experience, including as a litigator at one of the nation’s largest law firms and as an in-house attorney, Nate works strategically to help individuals and businesses resolve disputes efficiently and with optimal outcomes.
His experience includes:
- Representing a client in the beverage packing industry in a partnership dispute involving a divestment of interests.
- Representing property owners in disputes with their homeowners’ associations.
- Obtained summary judgment in a case against a hedge fund administrator that alleged $20 million in damages.
- Obtained summary judgment and an order compelling arbitration, which was upheld on appeal, in a putative nationwide consumer class action for unjust enrichment and unfair competition against a major bank.
- Obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of a national retailer in a shareholder lawsuit alleging more than $100 million in damages for breach of fiduciary duties relating to the public company going private.
Nate began his legal career as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Stephen M. McNamee, former Chief Judge of the District of Arizona. Before joining DMW, he spent more than 10 years as a litigator at an AmLaw 100 law firm, and several years as in-house counsel for a real estate and agricultural company.
Nate earned his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law, where he served as a lead editor of the San Diego Law Review.
Honors & Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation (2025)
Memberships & Community Involvement
- Association of Business Trial Lawyers
- American Inns of Court
- San Diego County Bar Association
- YMCA of San Diego, Adventure Guides
- Peninsula Youth Softball Association
Publications & Presentations
“The Breadth and Precision of California’s Anti-SLAPP Statute (PDF),” Association of Business Trial Lawyers Report, September 2023