Attorney Biography
Roger W. Smith, Jr., was born in Raleigh, North Carolina and attended the Raleigh public schools. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of North Carolina in 1991. While at UNC he was inducted into the Order of Gimghoul.
After college, Mr. Smith moved to Wyoming where, during a period of about two years, he learned to hand-make rough white-pine furniture in the Western tradition. He returned to North Carolina and co-founded Appalachian Designs, a company through which he continued to manufacture and market this furniture.
In the fall of 1996, Mr. Smith entered the Norman A. Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University. During law school, he received the book award in the Trial Advocacy Program, was named to the School’s National Trial Team, and was inducted into the Order of Kivett. He received his law degree in 1999 and joined Tharrington Smith that year. He has been recognized by The National Advocacy for DUI Defense as the top 100 DWI Attorneys in North Carolina for 2014, Recognized by National Trial Lawyers top 100 National Trial Attorneys for 2014. Business magazine, Legal Elite for 2014.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Wake County Bar Association and its membership directory committee, the Wake County Academy of Criminal Trial Lawyers, the North Carolina Bar Association, the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Bar Association, and the American Judicature Society. He and his wife, Leigh Ann Smith, have three children.
