G. Murrell Smith, Jr. is a co-founding partner of Smith Robinson. G. Murrell Smith, Jr. He focuses his practice in a variety of areas including civil litigation, medical malpractice defense, insurance defense, and governmental law. On April 28, 2022, Murrell was elected to be Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives. He began his term as Speaker on May 12, 2022. 

A native of Florence, South Carolina, Murrell grew up in Sumter, where he graduated from Wilson Hall in 1986. He attended Wofford College in 1990, earning a Bachelor of Arts in History and Government. After earning his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1993, Murrell began practicing law in his hometown of Sumter. He started with a general law practice yet simultaneously served as a part-time public defender from 1994-1998. As a public defender, Murrell tried numerous DUI and drug cases and major felonies to include murder trials and death penalty cases.

Murrell later joined the practice of Lee, Erter, Wilson, Holler & Smith, LLC. Smith’s focus evolved to insurance defense, automobile claims, and medical malpractice defense. He has tried numerous cases to verdict and has honed his trial skills to concentrate on more complex litigation to include nursing homes, business litigation, workers compensation, medical malpractice and legal malpractice. Murrell now has a presence representing clients in virtually every county in the state. He has an AV Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell.

In 2000, Murrell was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, serving District 67. He began his political career as a member of the House Judiciary Committee rising to first vice chairman. In 2009, he moved to the House Ways and Means Committee and was Chairman of the Health and Human Services Subcommittee beginning in 2012. On December 5, 2018, Murrell was elected as the Chairman of the South Carolina House Ways and Means Committee. Murrell also serves as the Chairman of the House Ethics Committee and on the South Carolina Judicial Merit Selection Commission.

Murrell was elected to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) in 2020 and was also selected for the 2020 Compleat Lawyer Award by the University of South Carolina School of Law. He has been selected for the 2021 edition of Best Lawyers in America for his work in Commercial Litigation. Murrell was also chosen for the "Leadership in Law" award by South Carolina Lawyers Weekly in 2019, and was voted "Best Elected Official" for the 2020 edition of Best of Sumter by The Sumter Item.