With the State Fair of Texas opening in just over a month, Frost Brown Todd announced this week that the fair’s top legal advisor and two other Dallas attorneys have joined the law firm as members.
The trio of new additions are Robert B. Smith, Steven R. Smith and Sean Whyte.
Robert Smith has served as the outside general counsel for the State Fair of Texas for 15-plus years. He advises clients in the entertainment and amusement business, as well as in the oil and gas and financial industries.
Smith’s experience with the State Fair has made him an expert in corporate governance matters in the nonprofit sector. Outside of his law practice, he has served as tournament chairman for the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Championship and as the board chair of the Salesmanship Club Charitable Golf of Dallas.
Steven Smith, who was previously at Perkins Coie, concentrates his practice on real estate lending and servicing. He also has bankruptcy experience that includes providing insolvency counsel to investors, assisting with the acquisition of companies through the Chapter 11 process, and representing debtors, secured creditors, and trustees and committees in commercial and real estate bankruptcy proceedings.
Sean Whyte joins Frost Brown Todd from He3Labs, a Dallas-based blockchain consulting and services company where he served as chief operating officer and general counsel for a year-and-a-half. He still sits on the company’s board of directors.
A former partner at Gardere and Alston & Bird, Whyte has gained experience representing individual blockchains, cryptocurrency exchanges and companies building businesses with blockchain technology. His practice also includes advising early-stage technology start-ups.
These three additions grow the Cincinnati-based law firm’s Dallas office to 25 attorneys. The firm has nearly doubled its headcount in Dallas this year with 11 new hires.