AWESOME ATTORNEYS
INDEPENDENT EDITORIAL · FIRM PROFILES · YUMA, ARIZONA
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING NOTICE. This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team. It was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed prior to publication by the firm profiled. All case results, recoveries, and recognitions described below are attributed to their sources. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter. This article is for general information only and is not legal advice; reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship.
More Than Fifty Years of Personal Injury Practice in One Yuma Office
Inside The Smith Fila Law Firm, a Yuma practice that traces back to 1972 under founder Brian Smith and has been led for more than 30 years by Frank A. Fila, who practices exclusively in personal injury law — including for the Canadian snowbirds who winter in southwestern Arizona.
BY THE AWESOME ATTORNEYS EDITORIAL TEAM · YUMA, ARIZONA · JULY 2026
THE SMITH FILA LAW FIRM — AT A GLANCE
| FOUNDED BY | Brian E. Smith in 1972 (as Brian E. Smith Limited); renamed The Smith Fila Law Firm in 1982 when Frank A. Fila joined |
| LED TODAY BY | Frank A. Fila, J.D., Valparaiso University School of Law, who has practiced exclusively in personal injury law for more than 30 years |
| FOCUS | Plaintiff-side personal injury: car, motorcycle, pedestrian, and truck accidents; medical negligence; industrial and farm accidents; dangerous-premises injuries; wrongful death |
| OFFICE | The Brian Smith Building, 301 S. 2nd Ave., Yuma, Arizona |
| DISTINCTIVE EDGE | A genuinely local Yuma practice, more than five decades old, with specific experience handling claims for Canadian winter visitors and Spanish-speaking clients, and matters that cross into California and Nevada |
| FEE MODEL | Not specified in the firm’s public materials reviewed; the firm advertises free consultations |
| KNOWN FOR | Longevity — one of the longest continuously operating dedicated personal injury practices in Yuma |
Sources: yumainjurylaw.com (firm website), Martindale-Hubbell, Justia, FindLaw, LawInfo. Compiled July 2026.
ORIGIN
Two Names, One Continuous Practice
Brian Smith began practicing law in the Yuma area in 1972 and founded the firm as Brian E. Smith Limited that same year, according to the firm’s own history page. Frank A. Fila subsequently joined the practice, and the firm was renamed The Smith Fila Law Firm. Fila earned his J.D. from Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana and has, per the firm’s materials, practiced exclusively in personal injury law for more than 30 years — meaning his tenure at the firm covers the great majority of its history since the 1982 renaming.
Fila is a sustaining member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a membership organization for attorneys who have obtained seven-figure settlements or verdicts for clients, and has served on the Board of Governors of the Arizona Association for Justice, the state’s plaintiffs’-bar organization — a leadership role that reflects standing among his fellow plaintiffs’ attorneys statewide, not just in Yuma.
PRACTICE
A Border-Region Practice With Cross-Jurisdiction Reach
The firm’s website describes handling car, motorcycle, pedestrian, and truck accidents; medical negligence; industrial and farm accidents, reflecting Yuma County’s significant agricultural economy; injuries from dangerous premises; and wrongful death claims. Because Yuma sits near the California and Nevada borders and hosts a large seasonal population of Canadian winter visitors, the firm specifically advertises experience handling matters that cross into California and Nevada and familiarity with Canadian auto and health insurance — a genuinely regional specialty tied to Yuma’s particular demographics rather than a generic marketing claim.
One caveat worth noting: Fila’s Martindale-Hubbell listing includes “Insurance Defense” among a long list of general practice-area tags, alongside items like zoning, government contracts, and Indian law that do not appear anywhere in the firm’s own marketing or in Fila’s more detailed bio pages, which consistently describe him as practicing exclusively on the plaintiff’s side. Awesome Attorneys treats the Martindale tag list as likely outdated boilerplate rather than a current description of Fila’s practice, given the weight of more specific, more recent sources — including his Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum membership, which requires a plaintiff-side result to qualify — but flags the discrepancy for transparency.
TRACK RECORD
The Results Board
The Smith Fila Law Firm does not publish an itemized settlement or verdict table. Awesome Attorneys located a small number of third-party client reviews referencing favorable outcomes without disclosed dollar figures.
| CATEGORY | WHAT’S PUBLICLY DOCUMENTED |
|---|---|
| Case results | Not itemized by the firm; no public settlement or verdict table located |
| Practice tenure | Continuous personal injury practice in Yuma since 1972 under two attorney names |
| Plaintiffs’-bar standing | Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum sustaining member; former Arizona Association for Justice Board of Governors member (Fila) |
Sources: yumainjurylaw.com. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter; every case is unique.
CLIENT VOICE
What Clients Report
Public reviews of the firm are limited in number. One reviewer on FindLaw described the firm as “very professional” and said staff “offered sound advice during the case.” Awesome Attorneys did not locate a larger body of published client reviews for the firm, nor any negative or critical reviews, in its research — a reflection of the firm’s smaller public review footprint relative to larger Phoenix and Tucson competitors in this series, rather than evidence of a problem.
COMMUNITY
Beyond the Courtroom
The firm’s decades-long service to Yuma’s specific population mix — year-round Spanish-speaking residents, seasonal Canadian visitors, and the agricultural workforce tied to farm-accident cases — reflects sustained attention to the local community’s actual composition rather than a generic statewide marketing approach. Awesome Attorneys did not find documentation of specific charitable giving, sponsorships, or nonprofit board seats tied to the firm or to Fila individually.
RECOGNITION
Peer Standing
Fila’s clearest independently meaningful credential is his membership in the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, which requires documentation of a qualifying seven-figure result, and his past service on the Arizona Association for Justice’s Board of Governors, an elected leadership role within the state’s plaintiffs’ bar. Both reflect standing among fellow plaintiffs’ attorneys rather than a blind peer-review process. Awesome Attorneys did not find a Super Lawyers or Best Lawyers listing, an AV Preeminent or comparable top-tier Martindale rating, or any Arizona State Bar Board of Legal Specialization certification for Fila.
THE LAW
The Arizona Backdrop, in Plain English
Readers considering a personal injury claim in Arizona should understand a few ground rules. What follows is general information, not legal advice.
The two-year clock. Arizona’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims is generally two years from the date of injury (A.R.S. § 12-542).
Suing the government is faster and stricter. Claims against Arizona public entities require a formal notice of claim within 180 days (A.R.S. § 12-821.01) and a lawsuit within one year (A.R.S. § 12-821).
Fault is shared, not all-or-nothing. Arizona follows pure comparative negligence (A.R.S. § 12-2505): an injured person’s recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault, but not eliminated even if they were mostly at fault.
Minors get more time. The limitations clock is generally paused for minors and people of unsound mind until the disability ends (A.R.S. § 12-502).
ASSESSMENT
The Awesome Attorneys View
The Smith Fila Law Firm’s case for itself is longevity and local specificity: more than fifty years of continuous personal injury practice under two attorney names, in a border-region market with a distinctive population mix that the firm has built genuine, non-generic expertise around, from Canadian insurance to farm-accident litigation. Fila’s Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum membership and AAJ Board of Governors service are credible, if membership-based rather than blind-reviewed, markers of plaintiffs’-bar standing.
The honest trade-offs: the firm’s public review footprint and published case data are both thin compared to larger firms in this series, it does not publish a results page, and Awesome Attorneys found a stray “Insurance Defense” tag on one third-party directory that is inconsistent with every other source describing Fila’s practice — worth a direct question to the firm if it matters to a prospective client. For a Yuma-area resident who wants a genuinely local, long-tenured firm over a Phoenix-based practice with a satellite Yuma office, this remains one of the few options that fits that description.
METHODOLOGY & INDEPENDENCE
This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team in July 2026. Primary source: the firm’s own published website, yumainjurylaw.com, including its firm-history and attorney-biography pages. Secondary sources: Martindale-Hubbell, Justia, FindLaw, and LawInfo. The Smith Fila Law Firm did not commission, pay for, or pre-approve this article. All claims are attributed to their sources; past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes. This article is general information, not legal advice.
© 2026 Awesome Attorneys. Independent editorial. Sponsored placements on Awesome Attorneys are always clearly labeled; this is not one.
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