About Adam
Adam Smestad studied business before turning to law. He earned a B.B.A. from the University of Iowa in 2005 and completed his J.D. at DePaul College of Law in 2009. Those years set a pattern: combining practical business sense with courtroom training. The mix shows in the variety of roles he has held since.
Smestad began his legal career as a law clerk at Arquilla & Fink, Ltd in 2008 while finishing law school. He moved into private practice after graduation, joining the Law Office of Daniel E. Goodman, LLC as a lawyer in 2011. The next year he became a partner at Eckert & Smestad, LLC. That partnership came early in his post‑bar life and gave him experience running client files and sharing firm management responsibilities.
In 2017 Smestad started his own firm, Smestad Law, LLC. He returned to a larger team setting in 2018 as a lawyer with Emalfarb Swan & Bain. Those shifts — between solo practice, partnership and larger firms — reflect a career comfortable in several practice environments. They also provided a range of day‑to‑day legal work and client contact.
He holds bar membership in the State Bar of Illinois beginning in 2010 and is licensed to practice in both Illinois and Colorado. The Illinois bar membership has continued since 2010. That dual licensure allows him to handle matters that cross state lines and to advise clients working in both jurisdictions.
Over the years Smestad has worked on matters that required courtroom preparation, negotiation and client counseling. His background in business school and law school has made him attentive to financial and transactional aspects of client matters as well as procedural and litigation details. Colleagues describe him as methodical; clients expect practical answers and straightforward guidance.
Most recently he has been associated with the Law Offices of Clifton Black, PC. That office listing appears as his current professional location while he maintains his Illinois bar membership. He continues to draw on experience from solo practice and partnership roles when representing clients.
Smestad’s work follows a steady arc: solid legal training, early experience as a clerk, years in private practice, a period running his own firm, and roles in established firms. He is licensed in Illinois and Colorado and his current practice concentrates on serving clients across those jurisdictions from the Law Offices of Clifton Black, PC.
