Michael Smith advises clients with starting up new businesses, buying and selling businesses, negotiating contracts, resolving internal disputes among the owners of businesses, and protecting the rights of businesses and business owners through litigation. He is particularly experienced in creating and advising limited liability companies (or LLCs). His practice also includes tax exempt, nonprofit organizations, including 501(c)(3)'s. He also represents clients in appeals, both civil and criminal.
Mike was born and raised in Tennessee, but he has been a Hoosier for most of his life. He moved to Indiana in 1978 after receiving a B.E. in chemical engineering (summa cum laude) from Vanderbilt University to work for Eli Lilly and Company in Lafayette, Indiana. Along the way, he earned a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University. In 1989 he enrolled in law school while continuing to work full time at Lilly, obtaining a J.D. (summa cum laude) from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1993. He then moved to the Lilly Law Division, working first in the Environmental Law Group, and then in Securities and Commercial Transactions. While he was in the Law Division, he organized and led the Lilly Law Divison Pro Bono program. In 2008, he left Lilly to open a business law practice in Fishers, Indiana. In 2018, he and his partner, Susan Rayl, joined with attorneys in forming Harshman Ponist Smith & Rayl, LLC.
Mike has served as an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, and he frequently teaches continuing education courses for other lawyers, paralegals, and accountants. He has published the Indiana Business Law Blog since 2009.
Mike's recreational interests include backpacking, fishing, kayaking, gardening and native plants, and woodworking with vintage hand tools.
- Business Law
- Business Contracts, Business Dissolution, Business Finance, Business Formation, Business Litigation, Franchising, Mergers & Acquisitions, Partnership & Shareholder Disputes
- Estate Planning
- Health Care Directives, Trusts, Wills
- Appeals & Appellate
- Civil Appeals
- Limited Liability Companies
- Nonprofit Organizations
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Credit Cards Accepted
Visa, MasterCard, Discover -
Rates, Retainers and Additional Information
Payment plans may be available in appropriate situations.
- Indiana
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- D.C. Circuit
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- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana
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- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana
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- English: Spoken, Written
- Partner
- Harshman Ponist Smith & Rayl, LLC
- - Current
- Member
- Smith Rayl Law Office, LLC
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- Originally Michael Smith Law Office, LLC
- Adjunct Professor
- Indiana University School of Law -- Indianapolis
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- Taught Contract Drafting to law students
- Adjunct Professor
- Indiana University School of Law -- Indianapolis
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- Conducted the Nonprofit Externship Program for law students at the Community Development Law Center.
- Contract Attorney
- Community Development Law Center
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- Attorney/Counsel
- Eli Lilly and Company
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- For more than fourteen years, Michael Ray Smith was in-house counsel for Eli Lilly and Company. While in Lilly's law division, Mike worked in the environmental legal department, in the office of the corporate secretary, and, for the last ten years, in the commercial transactions group. While in commercial transactions, Mike supported the Company's global sourcing operations, writing and negotiating contracts for all manner of goods and services, including a $1.3 billion energy management outsourcing transaction.
- Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
- J.D. (1993) | Law
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- Honors: summa cum laude
- Activities: Note Development Editor, Indiana Law Review
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- Purdue University - Purdue University
- M.S. (1982) | Chemical Engineering
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- Activities: Research in the possible application of ion exchange technology in artificial kidneys.
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- Vanderbilt University
- B.E. (1978) | Chemical Engineering
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- Honors: summa cum laude
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- Heartland Pro Bono Award
- Heartland Pro Bono Council
- Indiana State Bar Association
- Member
- Current
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- American Institute of Chemical Engineers
- Member
- Current
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- Indianapolis Bar Association
- Member
- Current
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- Indiana Business Law Blog
- Harshman Ponist Smith & Rayl, LLC
- Yes, Your LLC Needs an Operating Agreement
- Fishers Business Insider
- Limiting the Discretion of the Administrator of Poor Relief in Indiana
- Indiana Law Review
- Advising Closely Held For-Profit Businesses, Annual CLE Conference, Rochester, IN
- Fulton County Bar Association
- Q. Options if home purchase and less than six mths later find there is mold, water damage, etc?
- A: I'm sure you were looking for something more helpful than this, but to get an answer to your question, your daughter needs to call an attorney, preferably one who handles a lot of residential real estate matters.
- Q. Can I place a construction lein on a nursing home in Indiana for worked preformed
- A: Maybe, depending on the facts. One particularly important fact is how long it has been since you worked on the project. For this type of construction, assuming the nursing home is privately owned (other rules apply if it is publicly owned), you have 90 days after the last day you provided labor on the project to record a notice of intent to hold a lien with the county recorder in the county in which the construction project is located.
The Indiana Mechanic's Lien statute also provides another remedy that may or may not be helpful, assuming you were not hired directly by the owner of the project but rather by a general contractor or subcontractor. You may be be able to send the owner ... Read More
- Q. One of my parent's will was rewritten in the last couple of years and heavily favors the executor and their family.
- A: Your suspicions may be well founded, but I don't think anyone can give you satisfactory answers to your questions in this forum. You should hire an attorney who handles estate planning and probate matters, lay out everything you know, and get the lawyer's advice on your chances of success if you challenge the validity of the will. Whether money well is spent on legal fees depends, in part, on how much the estate is worth and what your share might be. It makes no sense to spend, say, $20,000 in legal fees if the most you stand to inherit is $10,000. There may also be other, non-financial considerations to consider, such as the possibility of damaging family relationships in a will ... Read More
