Paul Smith is a Visiting Professor from Practice at the Georgetown University Law Center and formerly Senior Vice President at the Campaign Legal Center, of which he remains a board member and advisor. Until 2017 he was in private practice at the law firm of Jenner & Block LLP, where he had an active appellate practice for several decades, including 21 Supreme Court oral arguments in a wide range of cases but emphasizing civil rights and civil liberties issues. Among his important victories have been Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark gay rights case, and Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, establishing the First Amendment rights of those who produce and sell video games. He also argued a long list of voting rights cases in the Supreme Court.

He is widely recognized as one of the country’s leading lawyers in appellate litigation, media and entertainment law, and First Amendment litigation. Among his many accolades are the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award for his work promoting civil rights and civil liberties, and similar awards from the American Constitution Society, the DC Bar, the Legal Aid Society of DC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Lambda Legal, and the Human Rights Campaign.

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