His law review article, Child Laundering, written in 2005, won Cumberland's inaugural Lightfoot, Franklin and White Faculty Scholarship Award for the most significant scholarly work published during the preceding year,[17] and is consistently listed in the 10 Most Popular Articles in the bepress Legal Series.

Smolin joined the Cumberland faculty in 1987 after clerking for Senior Judge George Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1986 to 1987.

On June 24, 2009 Smolin appeared in an interview with Al Jazeera on the subject of stolen babies from Guatemala, (see Human trafficking, Child laundering)[9] after both the US Department of Justice and the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the US State Department declined to be interviewed and declined to comment on the subject.

[9] Smolin referred to his own situation involving his stolen adopted daughters and said that there is no easy solution to child laundering because it is usually successful and too often the perfect crime.

[21] He states the need to: Reform international adoption by putting a priority on keeping children in their original family and within their community.

[24] Richard Cross, the lead federal investigator for the prosecution of Lauryn Galindo for visa fraud and money laundering involved in Cambodian adoptions, estimated that most of the 800 adoptions Galindo facilitated were fraudulent--either based on fraudulent paperwork, coerced/induced/recruited relinquishments, babies bought, identities of the children switched, etc.

[27] Research focuses on contemporary bioethics dilemmas and issues related to the Center's Annual Symposium, which is typically co-sponsored by the Cumberland Law Review.

The Center has attracted numerous experts including ethicist Gregory Pence, atmospheric scientist John Christy, and U.S.

Smolin's basic view regarding the scope of the international movement is that not all worthy human causes deserve to be labeled or acted upon as a right.

He believes that doing so could erode or destroy the most basic human rights if the international movement gained enough power to enact all of its goals.