Abbe Lyn Smith (born September 22, 1956) is an American criminal defense attorney and professor of law at

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

. Smith is Director of the Criminal Defense and

Prisoner A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...

Advocacy Clinic and Co-Director of the

E. Barrett Prettyman Elijah Barrett Prettyman (August 23, 1891 – August 4, 1971) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. His son was American attorney E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. Education and c ...

Fellowship Program. Before joining the faculty at

Georgetown Law Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment, with over ...

, Smith worked as a

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

for many years and she was also on the faculty at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. Professor Smith regularly writes and comments on

criminal defense In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime (particularly the ''intent'' element), known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the ''accused'' may be assigned some ...

, the

criminal justice system Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

, criminal

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

, legal ethics, and

juvenile justice Juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal systems, chi ...

. Smith wrote a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

about her experience of helping Patsy Kelly Jarrett earn her freedom from a conviction for which Jarrett maintained her

innocence Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is prior to the sense of legal guilt and is a primal emotion connected with the sense of self. It is often confused as being the op ...

Education

Smith earned a B.A.degree from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1978 and a J.D. degree from the

New York University School of Law The New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...

in 1982. During her second year of law school at NYU—while working in the Prison Law Clinic with Professor Claudia Angelos—Smith began working on Patsy Kelly Jarrett's federal

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

petition. In March 1977, a jury found Jarrett guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of robbery, but Jarrett maintained her innocence. Smith worked on Jarrett's case for the next 25 years. From 2005–2006, Smith was a

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

scholar at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

School of Law in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

Legal career

Public defender

After law school, Ms. Smith began work as an assistant

with the Defender Association of Philadelphia. She would later work as a member of the Special Defense Unit, and a Senior Trial Attorney. While working as a public defender in Philadelphia, Smith began working as a law professor, teaching criminal law at City University of New York Law School.

Law professor

In 1990, Smith moved to

where she was Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice Institute, a clinical instructor in HLS' criminal defense clinic, and a lecturer on law in Harvard's Trial Advocacy Workshop. The Criminal Justice Institute is the curriculum-based criminal law clinical program of

. Smith joined the

faculty in 1996. Professor Smith is the Director of the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy (CDPAC) Clinic. From 1994–2005, Smith was the attorney for Patsy Kelly Jarrett. Over the years, Smith contacted journalists, public relations firms and wrote about Kelly in law journals. In 2003, Smith convinced documentarian Ofra Bikel—who was working on a film about guilty pleas for the PBS television show Frontline—to include Jarrett in the documentary. The documentary aired in 2004. During a March 2005 review of the case, the members of the New York Parole Board watched Bikel's account of Jarrett's story, and she was released. ''Case of a Lifetime'' was a finalist in the 21st Lambda Literary Awards for best lesbian memoir/biography. In 2010, she was elected to the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. She is also on the board at the

Bronx defenders The Bronx Defenders is a public defender office located in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City. At the Bronx Defenders, criminal defense lawyers work together with civil lawyers, family defense lawyers, immigration lawyers, non-attorney ...

and the

National Juvenile Defender Center The Gault Center, formerly the National Juvenile Defender Center or NJDC, is a nonprofit organization located in the United States that advocates for juvenile justice reform. NJDC changed names to The Gault Center in 2022. History The American B ...

. In 2012, she was the recipient of the Legal Teaching Award from

. In 2015, Smith eulogized her friend and colleague Monroe Freedman.

Writings & commentary

Professor Smith writes and comments on criminal defense, the criminal justice system, criminal prosecution, legal ethics, and juvenile justice. Her scholarship has been cited in numerous opinions. In ''State v. Citizen'', The

Supreme Court of Louisiana The Supreme Court of Louisiana (; ) is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The Supreme Court, and Lou ...

cited her scholarship on indigent defendants' right to appointed counsel under ''

Gideon v. Wainwright ''Gideon v. Wainwright'', 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment to the United S ...

''.

Criminal defense

Professor Smith writes about representing unpopular clients. She wrote an opinion article in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' titled, "What motivates a lawyer to defend a Tsarnaev, a Castro or a Zimmerman?" Smith co-edited ''How Can You Represent Those People?'' with Monroe Freedman. In the book—a collection of essays—criminal defense lawyers and others share stories about how it feels to defend people accused of crimes ranging from the ordinary to the horrific. In a piece on Judy Clarke and representing unpopular clients, she remarked: "Criminal defense is kind of a unique calling — not to sound pretentious — it takes a peculiar heart-set, mind-set to do the work for a career." She continued, "We stand behind people who are often the most reviled." She discussed why lawyers defend monsters on

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

. In ''Too Much Heart and Not Enough Heat: The Short Life and Fractured Ego of the Empathic, Heroic Public Defender,'' Smith writes about how one can sustain a career in indigent criminal defense. In order to do this, Smith recommends respect for clients, passion for the professional craft of defense lawyering, and a sense of outrage about the system. Smith writes about two former Prettyman fellows who left indigent criminal defense. Smith rejects

Charles Ogletree Charles James Ogletree Jr. (December 31, 1952 – August 4, 2023) was an American legal scholar who served as the Jesse Climenko Professor at Harvard Law School, where he was the founder of the school's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for ...

's paradigm of public defenders as empathetic heroes. In ''The Bounds of Zeal in Criminal Defense: Some Thoughts on

Lynne Stewart Lynne Irene Stewart (October 8, 1939 – March 7, 2017) was an American defense attorney who was known for representing controversial, famous defendants. She herself was convicted on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terro ...

,'' Smith discusses the conduct that led to

's prosecution and her approach to lawyering generally. Smith examines whether Stewart's view of zeal and devotion is at odds with the prevailing ethics and ethos of defense lawyering. Smith finds it troubling when the government criminally prosecutes members of the defense bar, especially when it goes after lawyers who represent unpopular clients.

Prosecutors

Smith often writes about prosecutors. In ''Are Prosecutors Born or Made?,'' Smith writes about her encounters with prosecutors and countless conversations during the course of her thirty-year criminal law practice. In ''Can You Be a Good Person and a Good Prosecutor?,'' Smith examines the morality of prosecution. First, she explores the context of criminal lawyering at the millennium and what it means to prosecute under current conditions. Then, she discusses whether it is possible to do "good" in this context—that is, whether a well-intentioned prosecutor can temper the harsh reality of the criminal justice system—in view of the institutional and cultural pressures of prosecutor offices. Smith concludes by answering the question posed: she hopes so, but thinks not. In ''A Call to Abolish Peremptory Challenges by Prosecutors,'' Smith argues that courts should acknowledge the unenforceability of ''

Batson v. Kentucky ''Batson v. Kentucky'', 476 U.S. 79 (1986), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling that a prosecutor's use of a peremptory challenge in a criminal case—the di ...

'', the landmark United States Supreme Court case prohibiting prosecutors from excluding jurors in criminal cases based solely on race, and admit that the only way to end this insidious practice that leads to less diverse juries is to abolish peremptory challenges by prosecutors.

Books

* How Can You Represent Those People? (Abbe Smith & Monroe Freedman eds., New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2013). * Abbe Smith & Monroe Freedman, Understanding Lawyers' Ethics (New Providence, N.J.: LexisNexis 4th ed. 2010). * Case of a Lifetime: A Criminal Defense Lawyer's Story (New York: Palgrave MacMillan 2008).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Abbe Living people Georgetown University Law Center faculty Yale College alumni American criminal defense lawyers Public defenders American feminist writers American lesbian writers Writers from Washington, D.C. American women cartoonists Activists for African-American civil rights American LGBTQ rights activists Lawyers from Chicago Writers from Chicago Radical feminists American women memoirists American memoirists American women lawyers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers New York University School of Law alumni 1956 births 21st-century American essayists American women legal scholars American legal scholars American cartoonists American women academics 21st-century American LGBTQ people