About Burr & Smith Law

Burr & Smith, L.L.P. represents employees in wage and overtime pay controversies; minorities opposing discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability and/or age in employment or public accommodations, such as restaurants or housing as well as in litigation opposing denial of civil rights and/or voting rights.

Burr & Smith, L.L.P. has litigated and resolved several Equal Pay Act and collective actions and multiparty equal pay, overtime pay, and minimum wage pay cases in which the settlements exceeded one million dollars.

Our attorneys have litigated in nationally recognized impact cases. In July 2003, the NAACP presented its Foot Soldiers’ Award to Charles Burr and Sam Smith in tribute to their “enduring pursuit of justice,” their “advocacy on behalf of many who are without means of redress” and for “leaving footprints on the sands of time that others can follow.” In June 2000 the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs gave its Outstanding Achievement in Public Accommodations award to the lawyers of Burr & Smith, L.L.P. for their representation of African American plaintiffs who experienced discriminatory treatment at the Adam's Mark Hotel when they participated in their Black College Reunion. The Adam's Mark Hotel paid $2.1 million dollars to settle plaintiffs' claims. Out of this fund, $600,000 was awarded to four historically black colleges in Florida for scholarships or business management programs.

Sam Smith was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Labor and Employment Law. Since 2008, Sam has been designated by his peers as a SuperLawyer as published in Florida Monthly / Law and Politics Magazine.

Charles Burr and Sam Smith, along with co-counsel, obtained certification for more than 160,000 female current and former employees of Publix Super Markets who sued as a class to oppose discrimination in various job benefits, including promotions, allocation of hours, job assignments, job advancement, pay and employment opportunities. In 1997, the court approved settlement for $81.5 million in monetary relief and extensive injunctive relief. In April 1999, Burr & Smith, L.L.P. successfully obtained an injunction enabling the Florida Conference of NAACP Branches and three individual plaintiffs to block a traffic management plan proposed by the City of Daytona Beach which would have prohibited vehicles from crossing the bridges leading to the Beach during an annual event known as the Black College Reunion. The attorneys of Burr & Smith, L.L.P. successfully argued on behalf of the plaintiffs that the proposed plan violated several provisions of the U.S. Constitution, including the Dormant Commerce Clause, the Equal Protection Clause and the First Amendment.

In 2006, Marguerite Longoria became a partner in Burr & Smith. Marguerite is specialty board certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Florida Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization and Education. She specializes in class and collective action litigation involving overtime and minimum wage, executive compensation issues and employment discrimination. Since 2006, Marguerite has been designated by her peers as a SuperLawyer as published in Florida Monthly/ Law and Politics Magazine. Marguerite serves on the executive board of the National Employment Lawyers Association (“NELA”) and the Executive Council of the Labor and Employment Section of the Florida Bar.

Associate attorney Loren B. Donnell graduated from Stetson University College of Law, cum laude. Loren is the President-Elect for the National Employment Lawyers Association, Florida Division (2010). She is also member of the American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section, and has been a contributing author and editor to the American Bar Association's Fair Labor Standards Act Treatise Supplement. Loren also is a contributing author to the Bureau National Affairs, Inc., State Wage and Hour Treatise Supplement.

We are proud to welcome Christine Jalbert to our attorney staff. Christine has significant experience representing plaintiffs in state and federal court on employment discrimination issues, including claims arising under Title VII, the ADA and ADEA. She also has experience representing clients in state and federal civil appeals before the Second District and the Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal. She prevailed in a Fourth Amendment excessive force appeal before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal published as Galvez v. Bruce, 522 F.3d 1238 (11th Cir. 2008).

The goal of each lawyer at Burr & Smith, L.L.P. is to positively impact the lives of as many people as possible by offering proficient and focused legal representation of the highest quality. We believe we can best accomplish this goal by representing plaintiffs who are suing on behalf of themselves and all others who have experienced similar violations of their rights. This is why our attorneys focus on complex public interest class action litigation, collective and multi-party actions.

In order to ensure that the attorneys can devote the necessary time and attention to accomplish this goal, they engage in intensive research and investigation before accepting any case, and strictly limit the number and types of cases they accept. Each attorney at Burr & Smith, L.L.P. has demonstrated a commitment to promoting employee rights and civil rights through membership and participation in various organizations and activities, including the National Employment Lawyers Association and its Florida affiliate chapter and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask us to send you free written information about our qualifications and experience. We will also provide you on request with additional information on any other statements contained in this website.