Paul M. Smith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul March Smith (born 1954) is an American attorney who has argued many important cases, most notably Lawrence v. Texas. He is currently a partner at Jenner & Block’s Washington, DC office and is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department.
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[edit] Education
Smith graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College in 1976 and received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1979, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal[1].
[edit] Professional career
After law school, Smith was a law clerk to Judge James L. Oakes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. From 1980-81, Smith was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powel. Smith practiced law for 13 years in Washington, DC with the firms of Onek, Klein & Farr and Klein, Farr, Smith & Taranto.
He had an active Supreme Court practice, including oral arguments in twelve Supreme Court cases. These arguments have included LULAC v. Perry and Vieth v. Jubelirer, two congressional redistricting cases, Lawrence v. Texas, involving the constitutionality of the Texas sodomy statute, United States v. American Library Association, involving a First Amendment challenge to the Children's Internet Protection Act and Mathias v. WorldCom (2001), dealing with the Eleventh Amendment immunity of state commissions. His first argument was in Celotex Corp. v. Catrett in 1986. Smith also worked extensively on several other First Amendment cases in the Supreme Court, involving issues ranging from commercial speech to defamation to “adult” speech on the Internet.
[edit] Bar membership
Smith was admitted to the bar in DC (on December 18, 1981), Maryland (on June 3, 1988) and New York (in 2006)[2].
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Paul M. Smith Biography", Jenner & Block LLP, October 6, 2006
- ^ "New York State Attorney Directory", New York State Office of Court Administration, October 6, 2006
