Patricia Smith

Patricia A. Smith recently retired from full-time legal practice and has committed herself to teaching and legal research. She began her legal career in 1980 when she was appointed as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Baltimore City and tried hundreds of criminal cases during her tenure.

Her career as a trial attorney continued as an Assistant Attorney General and Deputy Counsel for the Maryland Department of the Environment and also, subsequently, as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maryland. Throughout these positions, Ms. Smith continued her work as an expert litigator and handled both trial and appellate litigation in state and federal courts.

Additionally, Ms. Smith has served as Chief Counsel for both the Legal Aid Bureau of Baltimore and the Baltimore City Police Department. In 2003, she was appointed the People’s Counsel for the State of Maryland by Governor Robert Ehrlich. After serving as People’s Counsel, Ms. Smith moved on to Washington D.C. where she advised the United State Department of Veterans Affairs on large class action law suits and related human resource issues.

In 2015, she returned to Maryland when she accepted an appointment as the Director of Legal Services for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services for the State of Maryland. Ms. Smith has been committed to teaching since her days in graduate school. She has spent 26 years teaching Legal Writing and coaching the National Environmental Moot Court Team at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Last year, she coached the National Moot Court Team for the first time. In addition, she spent 15 years on the faculty of the School of Education at Johns Hopkins. She has also lectured extensively on ethics and the 4th and 5th amendments as related to law enforcement and criminal prosecution.

Ms. Smith received her JD from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. She has an MA from Indiana University in Classics and received her B.A. from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Ms. Smith is a native of Baltimore City and has one daughter who is currently a resident physician in anesthesiology.