Mike graduated from Erskine College in 1993 with a BA in history. He then attended the University of Georgia School of Law, and graduated in 1996 with a Juris Doctor degree. He spent the 1st year of his legal career in Augusta, Georgia and then enticed by the thought of spending time at the beach, moved to Savannah in 1997. After practicing with different firms over the years, Mike founded Smith Barid, LLC with his partner, Richard Barid, in November 2006 to focus on estate planning, elder law and special needs planning.
Mike was selected as one of America’s Techiest Lawyers in the April 2012 edition of the ABA Journal. He was also selected as a Georgia Super Lawyers Rising Star for 2010 through a peer review process and was selected as a 40 Under 40 dynamic business leader in Savannah in 2009 by the readers and editors of The Business Report and Journal. Mike is a member of Wealth Counsel, Elder Counsel, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the National Care Planning Council, the Savannah Bar Association, the Savannah Estate Planning Council, the Greater Savannah Coalition on the Aging, the State Bar of Georgia, Savannah Bar Association and the Fiduciary Law Section. Mike is past-president of the Georgia Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Greater Savannah Coalition on Aging and serves on the board of the Greater Savannah Sports Council. Mike was also a member of the first cast of the Alzheimer’s Association’s annual Dancing With the Stars dance competition where he performed the shag.
Mike is a nationally licensed soccer coach. He’s also an ultramarathoner, having completed two 50k races and one 50 mile race (The Georgia Jewel) in 2021 with plans to complete one more 50 mile race (Lookout Mountain Ultra) before the end of the year.
Mike is a frequent lecturer on Estate Planning, Elder Law and Special Needs Planning, Veterans Aid and Attendance and Medicaid Planning educating fellow attorneys at CLE events around the country and educating members of the community in an effort to help the community gain awareness of the importance of proper estate planning, long term care planning and special needs planning