Contact Us

Jessica Smith

W. R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Government
smithj@sog.unc.edu
919.966.4105

Areas of Expertise

Criminal law and procedure; judicial education; bail and pretrial release; evidence; post-conviction procedure

Profile

Jessie Smith joined the Institute of Government in 2000. Prior to that, she practiced law at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. She also clerked for U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina and for Senior U.S. Circuit Judge J. Dickson Phillips Jr. in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. At the School of Government, Smith teaches and consults with judges and other public employees involved in the criminal justice system. She is the 2006 recipient of the Albert and Gladys Hall Coates Term Professorship for Teaching Excellence. Smith earned a BA, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was managing editor of the Law Review.