Stefani Smith

Partner & COO

One of the founding Tensegrity attorneys, Stefani became a litigation partner in 2016 and took on the role of Chief Operating Officer in 2025. As COO, she draws on years of hands-on litigation experience to shape how the firm delivers legal services. Before stepping into firm leadership, Stefani built an unusual combination of expertise, first as an academic economist and then as a litigator handling complex matters on elite teams for sophisticated clients seeking lean, effective representation. That dual background taught her how to think rigorously about systems and incentives while also learning to do more with less, move quickly, and never lose sight of the business objectives driving every case. Her goal is to ensure that every engagement is designed to deliver maximum strategic value without unnecessary cost or complexity.

Stefani is responsible for building the operational infrastructure that enables Tensegrity’s attorneys to do their best work. She oversees the firm’s staffing, workflow processes, and client-service frameworks—all with an eye toward eliminating friction and keeping matters on track. She brings a litigator’s instinct for prioritization to the business side of the practice, combined with an economist’s analytical framework for understanding how pricing structures and resource allocation align firm and client incentives to maximize effectiveness.

Stefani’s approach reflects a core Tensegrity conviction: that the best way to serve litigation clients is to build a law firm that thinks the way they do—efficient, disciplined, and relentlessly focused on outcomes. She works to ensure that Tensegrity’s internal operations mirror the same budget-consciousness and strategic rigor that its attorneys bring to the courtroom, so that clients experience a seamless alignment between how the firm runs and how their matters are managed.

ADMISSIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS

2007, California

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

United States District Court for the Northern District of California

United States District Court for the Central District of California

United States District Court for the Western District of Texas

EDUCATION

Berkeley Law, J.D. (2007)

University of Illinois, Ph.D., Economics (1997)

University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, M.S., Economics (1995)

Whitman College, B.A., Mathematics, Economics (1992), magna cum laude