By 2013, our firm’s founder Judith Ross had already earned the reputation as a hard-working powerhouse in the restructuring and insolvency legal community. Having ascended to the role of partner at the large and prestigious law firms of Thompson & Knight LLP (now Holland & Knight LLP) and Baker Botts L.L.P., respectively, Judi had honed her skills working on some of the most prominent cases and matters in her field involving immensely difficult and sophisticated legal issues. She could have rested on her laurels, but she instead embraced a new challenge. She started the Law Offices of Judith W. Ross, founded in the conviction that it did not take an army of partners, associates, and support staff to provide the quality legal services her clients had come to expect. It did not take her long to prove that a lean group of attorneys with particularized experience and impressive pedigrees could take on Big Law and win. Former colleagues jumped at the chance of again joining forces, and the small-but-mighty firm quickly became known for successfully handling matters far more complex than those smaller firms typically tackle. During this time, Judi also became a sought-after mediator both in and out of the bankruptcy context, applying her knowledge from years of practice involving diverse issues and industries.

In 2018, with an eye on the firm’s future, Judi considered who might be a good fit to join in her practice and vision. She and her trusted peers repeatedly returned to one name: Frances Smith. Frances’s character, drive, and hard-won experience made her the ideal choice. Many years before, following her clerkship with the Honorable Barbara J. Houser, Frances had begun her legal career at Haynes and Boone, LLP, where she learned from some of the lions of the bankruptcy bar, evidenced by the fact that several of her colleagues would ultimately ascend to the bankruptcy bench. While there and during her time heading up the bankruptcy practice of Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP, Frances had developed a reputation as a problem-solver and someone very much at home in the rough-and-tumble world of bankruptcy litigation. Further, it was well known that, regardless of the nature of the interaction, Frances treated both her colleagues and adversaries with professionalism and respect. Frances had also made a name for herself in the bankruptcy bar, serving as a leader in several professional organizations and often spearheading bar initiatives, including those of the State Bar of Texas’s Bankruptcy Section, of which she is now chair. Judi reached out, Frances said yes, and on January 1, 2019, the two and their dedicated legal team became the law firm of Ross & Smith, PC.

Although Jason Binford had long been on Judi’s wish list of firm candidates, his route to the firm was somewhat more circuitous. Jason also started his career at Haynes and Boone, LLP, meeting Frances and learning from the same bankruptcy legal legends. Like Judi and Frances, Jason developed a notable professional reputation in the bankruptcy law community. This included becoming a partner at Foley & Larder, LP and developing a niche as a nationally recognized expert on the intersections between bankruptcy and franchise law. In 2020, Jason answered a call to public service, acting as an Assistant Attorney General in the Texas Attorney General’s Office in Austin. He acted as the Manager of the Bankruptcy Regulatory Team, representing state agencies in bankruptcy courts across the nation and becoming an expert in regulatory issues. Jason found it immensely fulfilling to represent his home state in bankruptcy courts and spent several years doing so. But he could not resist the opportunity to team back up with a colleague he had started his career alongside nearly two decades earlier. And so, in 2023, the “dream team” Judi had envisioned became a reality, and the firm was renamed Ross, Smith & Binford, PC.

Ross, Smith & Binford, PC is continuing the vision set out by its founder Judith Ross. The firm’s attorneys possess the legal skillsets, expertise, and diverse experience necessary to handle every type of dispute relating to business insolvency, bankruptcy, reorganization, and liquidation, as well as related litigation and corporate matters. Likewise, the firm provides out-of-court solutions, including mediation services. As Judi recognized back in 2013, this can be done well without the inefficiencies and expense all too common in Big Law. Each day, Ross, Smith & Binford, PC attorneys prove this to be true—offering practical solutions to their clients’ legal problems, with excellence.