Paul Smith

Board of Governors Member since 2018

Paul M. Smith is a Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches Constitutional Law and Election Law. He is also the Senior Vice President for Litigation and Strategy at the Campaign Legal Center. Paul works directly with CLC’s talented team of litigators to protect and improve our democracy through innovative litigation and advocacy.

Paul has four decades of experience litigating a wide range of cases. He has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court 21 times and secured numerous victories, including in important cases advancing civil liberties. Two examples are Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark gay rights case, and Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass’n, which established First Amendment rights of those who produce and sell video games.

Paul has been honored nationally by a variety of publications and organizations. He was named by Chambers USA as one of the country’s leading lawyers in appellate litigation, media and entertainment law, and First Amendment litigation for multiple years.  In 2010, Washington DC Super Lawyer named him one of the “Top 10 Lawyers in D.C.,” and The National Law Journal named him one of the “Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers.”  That same year, Paul was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Award by the American Bar Association Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice for his work promoting civil rights and civil liberties.

Paul received an honorary degree from his alma mater, Amherst College, in 2015 and now serves on the College’s Board of Trustees.

Paul attended Yale Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal, and then clerked for Judge James Oakes on the Second Circuit and Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.