Ed Flink and Jay Smith began practicing law together in 1995, and have been steadily building the firm since their early morning meetings over coffee that led them to “team up” at that time.  Although Jay became a lawyer almost 10 years after Ed graduated from law school, they had similar training, shared values as regards the practice, and dedication to their clients and the highest ethical standards.  

At that time, Ed was in the process of dissolving a successful partnership of 12 years, with a former law school chum, after six years with a major upstate New York firm, and Jay had made the decision to open his own firm after almost 10 years of practice with an old line Capital District firm and a house counsel operation. Both Jay and Ed had an understanding of and contacts in the Insurance Industry and had learned how to litigate from the best, but both also knew that the primary goal of all clients is the resolution, not the continuation of their case. Ed and Jay shared the belief in the need to contain the client’s legal expense without compromising the client’s interests. We seek to attain those goals through, among other things, the prompt assessment of the case, the early identification of realistically achievable outcomes, and the development and pursuit of a streamlined strategy designed to achieve the desired outcome most efficiently and effectively, without wasted or, worse yet, counter-productive energy. This is what good lawyers always have done.

The mission was simple: build a general practice firm with an emphasis on litigation and real estate that achieved excellent results and provided the clients with unparalleled service. They started as Edward Flink & Associates, and experienced the steady, controlled growth that allowed them the time to impart to the other attorneys in the office the values and approaches they had learned. After four years, on January 1, 2000, Jay and Ed formed a new firm, Flink Smith & Associates, LLC.