Donald E. Smolen II is the founder and principal of Smolen Law, The Alpha Firm. For more than two decades, he has represented people and families facing life changing injuries, loss, civil rights violations, and disputes with some of the country’s largest corporations and insurance companies.
What began as Don’s individual trial practice has grown under his leadership into one of Oklahoma’s largest plaintiffs firms. Today, Smolen Law has the attorneys, litigation professionals, experts, technology, and financial resources necessary to investigate, develop, finance, and try complex cases at the highest level. The firm has secured more than $1 billion in verdicts and settlements for its clients.
Don’s record includes significant results in both state and federal court. In 2026, he served as lead trial counsel in an insurance bad faith case against Progressive Direct Insurance Company that resulted in a $40 million federal jury verdict, including $20 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages. He previously obtained a $10.25 million federal civil rights jury verdict on behalf of the Estate of Elliott Williams in litigation arising from Williams’s death while in the Tulsa County Jail. His trial work has also received national recognition, including a medical malpractice verdict recognized among the Top 100 Medical Malpractice Verdicts in the United States.
His practice spans catastrophic injury, insurance bad faith, civil rights, wrongful death, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse and neglect, products liability, and other complex plaintiffs litigation. His cases have involved major insurers, corporations, health care institutions, governmental entities, correctional facilities, and other well funded defendants. The size of the opponent has never defined Don’s approach to a case. Preparation has.
He has built Smolen Law around the belief that serious cases deserve serious preparation. Every matter is developed with the expectation that it may ultimately have to be presented to a jury. That means understanding the facts, knowing the medicine, working with the right experts, investing the necessary resources, and being prepared to stay with a case when the litigation becomes difficult.
That reputation has made The Alpha Firm a trusted referral partner for attorneys throughout Oklahoma and beyond. A significant portion of the firm’s practice comes from lawyers who recognize that a case may benefit from additional resources, substantial financial investment, complex litigation experience, or trial capacity. Don and his team regularly collaborate with referring attorneys and welcome referrals and co counsel opportunities in significant plaintiffs cases.
His standing within the legal community extends beyond his own courtroom work. He has been selected to Oklahoma Super Lawyers every year since 2018 after previously being recognized multiple times as a Rising Star. He has also been invited to teach other attorneys, including presenting for the Federal Bar Association on deposition strategy and case development.
Don earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Tulsa and his J.D. with highest honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law. During law school, he served as an editor of the Tulsa Law Review and received numerous academic and advocacy honors, including the Order of the Curule Chair, Order of Barristers, and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Student Advocacy Award. He is admitted to practice in Oklahoma, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Western Districts of Oklahoma, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Long before the verdicts, recognition, and growth of The Alpha Firm, Don grew up on a ranch south of Tulsa. That background continues to shape the way he approaches his work: be prepared, work hard, treat people with respect, and do what you said you were going to do.
Today, he leads The Alpha Firm with that same mindset. Build the strongest case possible. Take care of the client. And be ready when it is time to stand in front of a jury.
Smolen Law's mission is to provide exceptional legal services with integrity, professionalism, and respect.
Choose the Oklahoma law firm that gets results: Smolen Law.
