Carol Ann Smith

Carol Ann Smith

Assistant Attorney General
Office of the Maryland Attorney General

A graduate of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Carol Ann Smith has worked as an assistant attorney general in the Maryland Office of the Attorney General for more than three decades.

When she was honored as a Leadership in Law winner a few years ago, Smith told the Daily Record she was proud to have worked with a succession of attorney generals and counseled 10 secretaries of the Department of Human Resources, which is responsible for meeting the needs of at-risk children and adults and strengthening families.

“I am specifically proud of my work to develop the agreement between Maryland and the District of Columbia to monitor the safety of D.C. foster children placed in Maryland,” she said.

Much of Smith’s legal career has focused on serving children and families. After law school, she worked for two years as a child in need of assistance attorney in Baltimore City. After that, she was a staff attorney for Howard County, a supervising attorney for Legal Aid Bureau Inc. and a staff attorney for the legal services division of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services.

Away from work, Smith has served on the board of Grassroots Homeless & Crisis Intervention Center for Howard County and as co-chair of the Attorney General’s Community Service Initiative, a group of staffers who regularly volunteer at Movable Feast, Habitat Restore, Gilmore Elementary School and several other organizations.

She also has volunteered at the ARC of Howard County, The Links Inc. and the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults/Team Fight.

“I have encouraged other attorneys to give back to community organizations and show various communities that Maryland attorneys are committed to volunteer service,” she said.

Smith is also president of the Women’s Bar Association of Maryland, which supports women in the legal profession and works for equal rights and opportunities in the legal profession and the community.

In nominating Smith for this award, her daughter, Alycia Smith, said her mother “has revitalized the WBA, safely bringing back in-person celebrations of the women’s suffrage movement, the return of the Rita C. Davidson Gala honoring Justice Angela Eaves and supporting law student members at both the University of Maryland and the University of Baltimore law schools.

“She’s very active in the community. That’s very important to her.”

– Alycia Smith