Russel S. Smart

Russel Sutherland Smart, QC (June 20, 1885 – May 18, 1945) was a Canadian intellectual property lawyer who founded the law firm Smart & Biggar.

Russel S. Smart was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on June 20, 1885, to George Alexander Smart and his wife. His mother died when he was six months old, and he was abandoned by his father who left to Atlanta, Georgia, while he was a child. Smart was raised by two maternal aunts in reduced circumstances.

Despite his circumstance, Smart attended the School of Practical Science at the University of Toronto, paying for his tuition by working as a packing manager at a local Woolworth's when he was not in class. He graduated with a diploma in mechanical engineering at the School in 1904.

While he was Toronto, Smart came across an advertisement for a job as a manager of the Ottawa office of the patent agency Fetherstonhaugh & Co. With no other job prospects, Smart decided to apply for the job, and was offered the position by F. B. Fetherstonhaugh on January 1, 1904. After graduation, Smart moved to Ottawa to begin practice as a patent attorney. Around the same time, he received a B.A. from Queen's University through extramural courses.

In 1908, he married Emma Louise "Louie" Parr.

At first, Smart practiced only as a patent agent with Fetherstonhaugh & Co. However, as patent litigation became more prevalent in the early part of the 20th century, it was necessary for Smart to hire local lawyers to represent his clients before the Exchequer Court and Supreme Court of Canada. He therefore decided to take a correspondence course in law at McGill University, and was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1911. He later returned to the University of Toronto to complete a fourth year in the mechanical engineering program (which was optional when Smart was originally enrolled at the School of Practical Science) to receive his Bachelor of Applied Science degree in 1913.

Thereafter, Smart began to represent his own clients in court, and soon gained prominence as a leading patent and trademark lawyer. By 1913 he was named a partner of the law firm, which began to offer services under the name Fetherstonhaugh & Smart while continuing to be closely associated with the patent agency Fetherstonhaugh & Co.

In Ottawa, Smart met the prominent lawyer and politician Harold Fisher, and together they published in 1914 one of the first comprehensive treatises on Canadian patent law. In 1917, Smart published a treatise on the law of trademarks and designs, which was also one of the first such texts on Canadian law.