The Tulsa DUI Guy

Currently serving as President of the Tulsa County Bar Association (2015-2016), Tulsa DUI Attorney, Zach Smith, is a 5th Generation Oklahoma lawyer. His great-great-grandfather was a Judge in Okemah in the early 1900s, just after statehood. Zach was born in Holdenville, OK. His father is a retired Associate District Judge in Hughes County and was on the bench for 25 years, and his mother taught music for 26 years in Holdenville Public Schools. He comes from a long line of lawyers, many of whom practice in Tulsa or the surrounding areas today. His great uncle, Tony Jack Lyons, was one of the most notorious criminal defense attorneys in the State of Oklahoma at one time, receiving over 50 murder acquittals during his tenure.
Zach attended Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK from 1995-1999. He graduated with a double major in International Business and Marketing, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. He was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and was an active student on campus.
While at OSU, Zach joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard and went on to serve his country for almost ten (10) years before resigning as a Captain in 2006. He went to Basic Training in Ft. Leonard Wood, MO and was trained initially as a truck driver. He is a graduate of Oklahoma’s Officer Candidate School Class 44 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in August of 2002. During his time in the Army he trained in various Forts and Bases in the U.S. and also spent time training in South Korea. After his first year of law school he he spent the Summer of 2000 in Ft. Jackson, SC where he graduated Officer Basic Course and became an Adjutant General Officer. He went on to become the Commander of the 645th Personnel Service Company before finishing his military duty with the 90th Troop Command Headquarters as an aid to the Colonel.
Zach attended Oklahoma City University’s School of Law, where his father received his undergraduate and legal degree. Zach graduated in May of 2002 and was immediately hired by the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office. He worked in the Tulsa Count District Attorney’s office for four and a half years, almost three of which were served as a Felony DA. He handled cases from Rape, to Robbery, to Murder. Zach tried a large number of jury trials for the DA’s Office in that time, at one time trying as many as 25 jury trials in 24 months.
Upon leaving the Tulsa County DA’s Office in 2006, Zach began his own law firm. He was alone for one year before Anthony Gorospe joined him to form the law firm of Gorospe & Smith in 2007. The vast majority of Zach’s work is in the area of DUI and DUI Manslaughter Defense, but his law firm handles Personal Injury, Criminal Defense, Probate/Wills/Estate Planning, and Family Law.
Having practiced law since 2002, Zach Smith is a Tulsa Trial Lawyer, and he has handled over 50 Felony jury trials in the past 10 years. Fifteen (15) of those trials have been in the past 7 years as a defense lawyer, and eight (8) of those trials resulted in “Not Guilty” verdicts by juries. Among those “Not Guilty” verdicts are several DUI cases, as well as Manslaughter charges.
Zach is the current President of the Tulsa County Bar Association (TCBA), having finished serving as both the Vice President and President-Elect of the TCBA for the past two years. Zach is very active in the Tulsa County Bar Association, and he has served on the board of the TCBA for several years now in some capacity. Zach began his service with the TCBA in 2008 when he became the Chairman of the Solo/Small Firm Section. He held that position for two years before becoming the Chairman of the TCBA Mentoring Committee. From 2010-2012, Zach was instrumental in establishing the current TCBA Mentoring Program with the TU Law School. In 2012 he became the Chairman of the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Committee, and from 2012-2014, he was responsible for creating, establishing, and coordinating the CLE schedule for the TCBA. The CLE Committee serves an important function, as it is responsible for providing CLE credits to a large number of the overall TCBA membership each year, helping ensure its attorneys maintain annual compliance with the requisite number of CLE hours established by the Oklahoma Bar Association. Additionally, Zach has taught the TCBA’s DUI CLE courses to other lawyers in the Tulsa legal profession for several years now, as well as other various CLE topics on which Zach is knowledgeable. In 2012, Zach also helped create the existing TCBA website and has continued to help grow the website and build it for the benefit of the TCBA members to this day.
Zach has also been involved with the Oklahoma Bar Association (OBA), and he has served on the OBA Law Schools Committee for several years now. He was selected to serve on a special committee created in 2012 to review programs created by the OBA and ultimately decide what to do with those programs in the future. He enjoys being active in both associations, however, he is certainly more active in Tulsa.
Zach serves on the Advisory Board Committee for the Youthful Drunk Driving (YDD) Program for Tulsa County, and he was partially responsible for the creation of the orientation video that the YDD Program uses to this day. He is very adamant about teaching our youth the dangers of drinking and driving. He is licensed to practice in the State of Oklahoma and before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. He spends the majority of his time practicing in Tulsa County and the surrounding areas.
Zach has been a member of the National College for DUI Defense (https://www.ncdd.com) since 2007, and he is a founding member of the DUI Defense Lawyers Association (http://www.duidla.org). He has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognition over the past 10 years, and he has been called upon to speak numerous times in the State of Oklahoma and nationally, for the Tulsa County Bar Association (http://www.tulsabar.com), the OBA (http://www.okbar.org), and the DUI/DLA (http://www.duidla.org).