About.

We are a small law firm with extensive experience in real property matters, wills,
estates and small business matters. However, we also are lawyers with
​decades of practice experience throughout the State of Alabama

Since 1990

Attorneys serving clients throughout the
​State of Alabama since 1990.

Our Goal

Created to provide individuals, small businesses and their owners with personalized, quality legal counsel in business law, real estate and estate planning matters. 

Our Team

Patrick F. Smith
​Senior Partner, Owner, Attorney

Patrick F. Smith is co-founder and a partner in the firm of Smith Kessler Smith. His practice areas include corporate and business law, focusing on the needs of small and mid-sized businesses, real estate transactions and real estate related litigation, and wills, trusts and estates. Mr. Smith also advises companies in the real estate settlement services industries on compliance with the provisions of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”). Mr. Smith also is a co-founder and CEO of Title Success Solutions, a title insurance industry consulting firm.

Prior to co-founding Smith Kessler Smith and Title Success Solutions, he was the president of TitleSouth and general counsel to RealtySouth in Birmingham, Alabama. TitleSouth is a full-service title insurance policy issuing agent of Stewart Title Guaranty Company. RealtySouth is Alabama’s largest real estate brokerage. Both TitleSouth and RealtySouth are subsidiaries of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire-Hathaway affiliate. 

Earlier, Mr. Smith was a partner in the Birmingham, Alabama law firm of Dominick, Fletcher, Yeilding, Wood and Lloyd, P.A. (now Dominick Feld, Hyde, P.C.) and at the firm of Strickland, Smith & Wagnon where his practice focus was on real estate related matters, including residential and commercial real estate closings, real estate related litigation, and title insurance claims defense.

Mr. Smith frequently has addressed real estate and title insurance industry and trade groups including the American Land Title Association (“ALTA”) and the Real Estate Settlement Providers Council (“RESPRO”). He has served as a presenter for CLE Alabama’s Real Estate Conference on multiple occasions, as well as the Georgia Institute of Continuing Education (“ICLE”), and has addressed title insurance industry seminars in Alabama and Georgia.

Mr. Smith holds a Juris Doctorate and Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Alabama School of Law, a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from Auburn University, and serves as an adjunct instructor of Business Law and Accounting at Athens State University in Athens, Alabama.
​

Melissa Kessler Smith
​Senior Partner, Owner, Attorney

Melissa Kessler Smith is co-founder of and partner in the law firm of Smith Kessler Smith, LLC Attorneys. Ms. Smith’s practice interests focus on commercial real estate transactions, commercial title insurance matters, including resolving issues related to real estate titles, and representing lenders in commercial real estate mortgage transactions. She has a long career in title insurance and real estate law, previously holding engagements in the title insurance department of a major Alabama law firm, as an agency services representative for Stewart Title Guaranty Company and as Alabama and Florida operations manager for BridgeTrust Title.

Ms. Smith is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law and Texas A&M University, and has served as a panelist for numerous title insurance industry conferences and seminars.

In addition to being a partner of Smith Kessler Smith, she also is a partner in South Oak Title Commercial, LLC, a commercial title insurance agency based in Gulf Shores, Alabama.​