WESLEY F. SMITH

ABOUT WES

Wes Smith was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and soon moved to a ranch near Duncan, Oklahoma. He grew up there and graduated as the Valedictorian of Velma-Alma High School in 1986. After high school, he moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma to attend Oklahoma State University. At OSU he was active in Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and was a member of the President’s and Dean’s Honor Roll. Wes graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics in 1991. During college he founded Cowboy Towing, which he operated until 1995.

The sale of his business brought Wes north to Lawrence, Kansas to attend law school at the University of Kansas. While at KU, he was a staff member of the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy, where he also served as Student Articles Editor and was chosen as a teacher’s assistant to Legal Research and Writing. During this time he worked as a law clerk for Stumbo Hanson, LLP, a bankruptcy boutique in Topeka, Kansas.

Wes graduated with his Juris Doctorate from KU in 1997, and was hired by Stumbo Hanson as an associate attorney, later becoming a partner. In 2008, Wes became a partner with Stevens & Brand, LLP. In addition, he taught Commercial Law—Secured Transactions at the University of Kansas School of Law from 2002 through 2013.

Wes’s practice is somewhat varied. For years, he concentrated on primarily representing debtors and creditors in consumer, farm, and small business reorganization cases under Chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. Recently, he has taken on more of a corporate counsel role and serves as general counsel to several family-owned businesses. He also enjoys assisting dealers, auctions, and consumers with automobile title and dealer licensing issues. Wes previously served as City Prosecutor for the cities of Mayetta and Eskridge. He is admitted to practice law in Kansas, the U.S. District Court for the Districts of Kansas, Western District of Missouri, Nebraska, and Colorado.



Wes lives in Lawrence with his wife, Lisa, in their empty nest. He still plays with cars…

Publications

• Author of article entitled “Reorganizing” to Liquidate: Chapter 12 Anomaly, ABI Journal, October 2011
• Author of article entitled Life is a highway…even in bankruptcy, The Kansas Banker, June 2011
• Author of article entitled “Cram Down” – Lenders Cram Back, The Kansas Banker, June 2010
• Co-Author of Chapter 12 (Farm Bankruptcy) of the Kansas Bankruptcy Handbook, Kansas Bar Association, 2009
• Author of article entitled Courts Give Banks Protection, The Kansas Banker, July 2009
• Author of Bankruptcy and Construction Chapter in the Construction Law Handbook, Kansas Bar Association, 2006
• Author of article entitled The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Consumer Protection Act of 2005 – Seventeen Months of Reflection
• Speaker at various continuing legal education seminars on topics of bankruptcy, secured lending, and commercial litigation