Stephen V. Smith

Stephen V. Smith is the founder and Managing Partner of Smith Family Law, APC, a downtown San Diego practice at 225 Broadway that he launched in 2017 after years as a managing associate at Dunne & Dunne, LLP. For more than two decades he has focused exclusively on family law, handling contested and uncontested divorce, child custody, child and spousal support, domestic violence, and high-asset property division, along with prenuptial, postnuptial, and marital settlement agreements and mediation. Having handled cases in family courthouses throughout San Diego County, Stephen understands how individual judges run their courtrooms and shapes each case presentation with that local insight in mind.

Stephen's path to family law is personal. A U.S. Navy combat veteran, he served aboard the USS Tripoli during Desert Storm, when the ship struck a 500-pound mine, and he received the Combat Action Ribbon before his honorable discharge. That service drives his commitment to San Diego's military community: he has represented hundreds of active-duty service members and veterans on the issues unique to military divorce, and he offers them reduced rates. A graduate of UC San Diego and California Western School of Law, Stephen was admitted to the California Bar in 2005, belongs to the family law sections of both the California and San Diego County bar associations, and has volunteered with the San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program's Domestic Violence Clinic.