Stan V. Smith, Ph.D.
Economic Damages & Lost Earnings · Licensed: IL
Biography
Stan V. Smith is a Chicago-based forensic economist and the chairman/founder of Smith Economics Group, Ltd. Born November 16, 1946, in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, he holds a B.S. in Operations Research from Cornell University (1968), an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1972), and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago (1997), with his doctoral thesis titled "Jury Verdicts in Drunken Driving Cases" and support fields in finance and econometrics. Smith is widely credited as the economist who coined the term "hedonic damages" and developed the underlying methodology for valuing the loss of enjoyment of life as distinct from lost earnings or human-capital value. The theory entered mainstream legal use through the 1985 Illinois case Sherrod v. Berry, involving a police shooting of an unarmed man. He co-authored what is described as the first forensic-economics textbook, Economic/Hedonic Damages: A Practice Book, with Michael Brookshire (1990), along with subsequent supplements. Before turning to forensic economics full time, Smith worked as a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (1973–74) and at a Chicago bank, was an associate economic analyst at an investment-banking consultancy (1974–77), founded an underwater-artifact recovery company (Seaquest International, 1977–81), and served as a principal/managing director at Ibbotson Associates (1981–85), where he originated the Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation (SBBI) data series later published by Ibbotson/Morningstar/Duff & Phelps. From 1970–73 he was a research assistant to Nobel laureate economist Eugene Fama at the University of Chicago. He taught as an adjunct professor at DePaul University (1990–1994), where he created what is described as the nation's first forensic-economics course ("Advanced Remedies"), and has lectured at the University of Chicago. Smith has been a member of the American Economic Association and American Finance Association since 1985, served on the Board of Editors of the Journal of Forensic Economics (1990–2000) and as a term vice president of the National Association of Forensic Economics (2000–2003), and has been a NAFE member since 1988. Per his firm's own CV, he has authored more than 60 articles and book chapters on hedonic damages, loss of enjoyment of life, household-services valuation, credit damages, and jury-verdict analysis, appearing in outlets such as the Journal of Forensic Economics, the Journal of Legal Economics, the ABA Journal, and various state bar publications. He has appeared on CNN's Larry King Live (1989) and as a Fox News (WFLD) contributor (2008–2009), and has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal and National Law Journal. According to the JurisPro directory, Smith has been retained several thousand times, taken more than 1,000 depositions, and testified or been qualified in court more than 500 times over a 20-plus-year consulting career, with roughly 65% plaintiff-side and 35% defense-side retentions; his listed rate there is $405/hour. His firm's own site lists past client relationships with Chicago firms including Kirkland & Ellis, Jenner & Block, Schiff Hardin, and Wildman Harrold.
Credentials & Certifications
- Ph.D. Economics (University of Chicago)
- M.B.A. University of Chicago
Fee Schedule
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