After graduating in 1792[2] from the University of Pennsylvania, he worked and studied in the office of Jared Ingersoll, a signer of the U. S. Constitution who was then the newly appointed state Attorney General.

In 1794, Smith moved to Reading, and practiced law in Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuylkill counties.

In 1809 he was part of the team defending, unsuccessfully, the controversial Susanna Cox.

[3] In 1823, Governor Shulze offered Smith the position of Secretary of the Commonwealth, which he declined, but then offered Smith the position of state Attorney General, which he accepted.

His grandson Edmond L. Smith was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Colorado Territorial Legislative Assembly.