Sam J. Smith practices complex class, collective action, and multiparty litigation in the fields of wage and hour law, employment discrimination and civil rights. Martindale-Hubbell has assigned Sam its "AV" rating, indicating very high to preeminent legal ability and very high ethical standards as established by the confidential opinions of members of the Bar. Sam is a Florida native, born in Miami in 1959. He obtained his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida, summa cum laude, in 1986, and earned his law degree from Florida State University, summa cum laude, in 1989. At FSU Law School, Sam was the Executive Writing Editor for the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. 

Before joining Charles Burr in practice, Sam practiced law at the Law Office of Thomas A. Warren in Tallahassee, Florida, where he represented employees in Haynes v. Shoney's Inc., No. 89-30093-RV (N.D. Fla. 1993), a race discrimination class action filed in Pensacola, Florida. The Shoney's class action plaintiffs obtained a recovery of $132.5 million, one of the largest monetary recoveries ever awarded in a Title VII case as of that date. Sam also teamed with co-counsel to obtain class certification for more than 160,000 female current and former employees of Publix Super Markets suing for discrimination against female employees in various job benefits, including promotions, allocation of hours, job assignments, job advancement, pay and employment opportunities. In 1997, the court approved Publix' settlement of the case for $81.5 million in monetary relief and extensive injunctive relief. Sam has also litigated and resolved numerous multimillion dollar Equal Pay Act and Fair Labor Standards Act equal pay and overtime pay collective action suits. He sued the Adam's Mark Hotel on behalf of individuals who experienced discriminatory treatment while attending their Black College Reunion, resulting in a settlement of $2.1 million, $600,000.00 of which was earmarked for black colleges in Florida. His efforts on behalf of the plaintiffs in Adam's Mark earned Burr & Smith, L.L.P. the award for Outstanding Service in Public Accommodations law from the Washington Lawyers Committee on Civil and Urban Rights.  Sam has also received a “Foot Soldiers’ Award” from the NAACP for his advocacy on behalf of African Americans.

Sam is the plaintiffs’ co-chair of the FLSA subcommittee of the American Bar Associations’ Labor and Employment Section and the Legislative Liaison for the Wage and Hour Committee of the National Employment Lawyers Association.  Sam is the Associate Editor of the Supplements to The Fair Labor Standards Act (Gallagher, Ed.-In-chief); Chapter Editor of the Florida Chapter to the State Wage & Hour Laws (McGillivary, Ed-In-Chief); and an Author of Chapter 23, "Employment Agencies" in an update to Employment Discrimination Law (Weirich & Dardarian, Editors-in-Chief).  Sam regularly makes presentations to attorneys and human resource officials nationwide on the FLSA and Florida wage & hour law.