About Cynthia Hardy
Cynthia Hardy Smith earned her J.D. from Texas Tech University in 1994. She moved into practice at a time when federal and state courts were taking on new complexities. Her education at Texas Tech provided the foundation for a courtroom-oriented career that has spanned both state and federal work.
She is admitted to practice in Texas and before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Federal Circuits. Those admissions have allowed her to appear in appeals courts beyond the state level. Over the years she has filed briefs and sought relief in appellate proceedings as part of broader litigation strategies.
Smith is an attorney at Alford, Sinkule & Lazarz LLP. Her role at the firm places her among lawyers who handle contested matters in Texas courts and in federal forums. She works on cases that move from trial court rulings into appellate review, and she assists clients as disputes progress through the post-judgment stages of litigation.
Her day-to-day work mixes written advocacy and courtroom appearances. She drafts appellate briefs and motions, and she prepares records and issues statements of the case for higher courts. When matters proceed to oral argument, she has experience presenting legal points before panels of judges. The admissions to the Fifth and Federal Circuits reflect that part of her practice often operates within the appellate system, though she also remains engaged in matters at the trial level in Texas.
Colleagues describe her as methodical in case preparation and precise in legal writing. She approaches disputes by parsing the record and identifying discrete legal questions that appellate courts review. That approach shapes how she frames issues on appeal and structures briefing to address the standards those courts apply.
Outside of court filings, Smith advises clients on the practical consequences of appeals and on options for post-trial relief. She counsels on procedural choices that affect whether a matter is preserved for appeal and how to position a case for review. Her work touches on federal procedure because many cases that reach the Fifth or Federal Circuits begin in federal district courts or implicate federal law.
As of 2026 she practices at Alford, Sinkule & Lazarz LLP. Her current practice centers on appellate and federal-court matters in Texas.
