Ms. Smith is Chief Counsel for the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, which provides ethics advice to approximately 3,600 judges and justices at every level of the judiciary in New York State, as well as hundreds of quasi-judicial officials such as judicial hearing officers, support magistrates, and court attorney-referees. As Chief Counsel, she is responsible for providing confidential ethics advice to judges and quasi-judicial officials at every level of the state’s judiciary; developing and implementing training programs and administrative procedures for the Advisory Committee; lecturing on judicial ethics; providing direction to staff counsel and support personnel; and other related duties. The Advisory Committee responds to hundreds of oral and written ethics inquiries each year.
She previously served as one of the Advisory Committee's staff counsel, concurrently with her service as Executive Director of the Judicial Campaign Ethics Center (August 2006-May 2013), and then Statewide Special Counsel for Ethics (May 2013-June 2015).
Ms. Smith is a co-author of the “Civility” chapter in Volume 4C of Haig's Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts. She frequently speaks on ethics matters within the court system, and has also spoken at bar associations and other institutions.
Before joining the Office of Court Administration, Ms. Smith was a senior litigation associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Ms. Smith obtained her J.D. magna cum laude from the Boston University School of Law, where she was an Articles Editor for the Journal of Science and Technology Law.