Olive Smith

Olive Smith is a civil defense litigator who helps clients navigate contested matters involving complex legal and factual issues. She quickly identifies key issues, develops practical defense strategies and adapts to new challenges as cases evolve.

Before joining the firm, Olive defended the Texas Comptroller in multimillion-dollar tax suits and appeals, represented oil-and-gas operators in administrative hearings involving complex geological fact finding and represented citizen advocacy groups in proceedings involving environmental permitting.

Olive earned three degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, including a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. She also studied classical guitar performance and completed the Plan II Honors Program. Since moving from Austin to Portland, Olive has enjoyed exploring the city’s neighborhoods, playing kickball and watching women’s basketball.

Representative Experience:

• Obtained appellate dismissal of class-action tax refund suit with complex procedural history seeking in excess of $10 million in Texas’s Third Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court.
• Obtained appellate dismissal of emergency mandamus petition seeking statewide injunction prohibiting taxation of novel tobacco products in Texas.
• Obtained appellate affirmance denying $8 million tax refund request arising from the Deepwater Horizon Disaster.
• Obtained two dismissals from the State in Texas oil-well plugging reimbursement suits.
• Obtained remand for additional fact finding on behalf of a beekeeper and neighborhood group contesting an air permit before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.