Joe Smith is a licensed attorney in Colorado and Florida and a Colorado licensed architect with over twenty-five years of architecture, construction law, construction defect litigation, and related insurance coverage and bankruptcy experience. Throughout his legal career, Joe has exclusively represented homeowners, homeowner associations, and building owners. From 2011 to 2014 Joe worked as a forensic architect at a Colorado consulting firm where he provided forensic services to private and public clients and also acted as an expert witness in several construction defect lawsuits. Joe regularly presents continuing education courses to community association managers in Colorado and Florida. Joe grew up in Northern California and then lived in North Carolina before making his way to Colorado in 1999. Outside of work, Joe enjoys skiing, mountain biking, and scuba diving with his high school-age sons, one of whom is an aspiring commercial airline pilot and the other who has his sights set on college baseball or diving. If he weren’t an attorney, you’d probably find Joe working as an archaeologist digging at ancient Roman, Greek or Egyptian sites.
Before joining Burg Simpson, Joe Smith provided forensic services to private and public clients, including:
• Architectural, structural, civil, and property damage claims
• Building code compliance and upgrade analysis
• Repair and rehabilitation design
• Construction monitoring and quality assurance
• Existing property condition assessments
• Design and construction claim litigation support
• Expert witness services
Prior to that, Mr. Smith spent nearly twelve years as a construction defect attorney representing homeowners and commercial building owners on matters including:
• Compliance with local, state, and federal laws and regulations
• Land purchase and other due diligence
• Design
• Building code and industry standards compliance
• Permitting
• Project documentation
• Contract formation and interpretation
• Value engineering
• Construction means, methods, and sequencing
• Quality control
• Post-construction warranty and repair work
Mr. Smith has extensive experience working with and analyzing the work of:
• Architects
• Civil, structural, and geotechnical engineers
• Developers
• Contractors
• Estimators
• Real estate appraisers and salespersons
• Community association managers
Honors & Accolades
• Selected to Best Lawyers® in America, 2020-2022
• AV Preeminent® Rating, Martindale-Hubbell
Lectures & Seminars
• “Lunch and Learn Lectures” – Mr. Smith routinely provides informal seminars to community association managers in Colorado and Florida
• October 2013 – PLRB 2013 Regional Adjusters Conference & Exposition (Eastern), Concord, North Carolina. Emerging Trends in Building Products, Codes, and Sustainability.
• June 2013 – PLRB 2013 Regional Adjusters Conference & Exposition (Western), Garden Grove, California. Emerging Trends in Building Products, Codes, and Sustainability.
• May 2013 – Colorado Defense Lawyers Association Construction Law Committee “How To” series, Denver, Colorado. Everything You Wanted to Know About Roofs and Were Afraid to Ask (And May Not Want to Know).
Publications & Media
• Joe Smith: Construction Defects Attorney and Architect, January 11, 2021
• Are You Ready to Testify?, CAI South Gulf Coast Chapter, CAI Community Voice Magazine, 1st Quarter 2019
• Are You Ready to Testify?, CAI Central Florida Chapter, Central Florida Times, 1st Quarter 2019
• Do’s and Don’ts for a Deposition, CAI Central Florida Chapter, Central Florida Times, 4th Quarter 2018
• Do’s and Don’ts for a Deposition, CAI South Gulf Coast Magazine, October 2018
• Do’s and Don’ts for a Deposition, CAI West Florida West, Community Journal, September 2018
Professional Affiliations
• American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM International)
• American Institute of Architects (AIA)
• Colorado Bar Association
• Denver Bar Association
• Florida Bar Association
