Smith is Director of the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and Co-Director of the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program.
[9] 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.
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.
In State v. Citizen, The Supreme Court of Louisiana cited her scholarship on indigent defendants' right to appointed counsel under Gideon v.
She wrote an opinion article in The Washington Post titled, "What motivates a lawyer to defend a Tsarnaev, a Castro or a Zimmerman?
[21] 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.
[21] 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."
[23] 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 examines whether Stewart's view of zeal and devotion is at odds with the prevailing ethics and ethos of defense lawyering.
[25] Smith finds it troubling when the government criminally prosecutes members of the defense bar, especially when it goes after lawyers who represent unpopular clients.