Amanda D. Smith

Pro Bono Partner-Elect

Amanda D. Smith is the pro bono partner-elect at Morgan Lewis. In this position, Ms. Smith works to advance the quality of pro bono opportunities for Morgan Lewis lawyers, the effectiveness and impact of the firm's pro bono representations and the breadth of participation in the firm's extensive pro bono program. She also handles the day-to-day administration of the pro bono practice, serves as a liaison with national and local legal services organizations and provides recommendations to firm management on pro bono issues.

Ms. Smith joined Morgan Lewis in 2003 in the Litigation Practice, and focused on the areas of insurance recovery and appellate litigation. Ms. Smith's pro bono work includes asylum and immigration representations, criminal defense, homelessness and domestic violence advocacy and human rights litigation. In one such human rights case, she was part of a team that obtained a $140 million judgment on behalf of four Bosnian Muslims who had been detained and tortured in the former Yugoslavia. She has also provided general legal assistance and strategic advice to many non-profits and public interest organizations. Ms. Smith serves on the Legal Advisory Council of the Center for Justice and Accountability in San Francisco.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Ms. Smith practiced at leading firms in San Francisco and in New York City. She earned her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 1997. She also earned a B.A., magna cum laude, from Carleton College in 1994. While maintaining a full-time practice, Ms. Smith recently earned a master's degree in international human rights law from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. She was awarded a Distinction - the highest honor accorded at Oxford - for her dissertation and for the degree itself.

Ms. Smith is admitted to practice in New York and California.