Fred Smith Jr., JD ’07, is a professor of law specializing in the federal judiciary, constitutional law, and posthumous legal interests. His work has appeared in California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, Michigan Law Review, New York University Law Review, Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and Yale Law Journal, among other academic journals. He has delivered lectures on related topics across the United States and internationally, including in Istanbul, Shanghai, and Warsaw.

He also has been interviewed as an expert by major media outlets, including CNN, CBS News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, Time Magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Smith clerked for Judge Myron Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama; Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Supreme Court. He previously held academic positions at Berkeley Law and Emory Law and has served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Yale University. He was named Emory Law’s Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2019, 2022, and 2023.

His published casebooks include Federal Courts in Context, 1st ed. (2023) (co-authored with Erwin Chemerinsky, Seth Davis, and Norman Spaulding) and Constitutional Torts, 5th ed. (2020) (co-authored with Sheldon H. Nahmod, Tom Eaton, and Michael L. Wells).