Steven R. Smith

Professor of Law
Dean Emeritus     

Former Chair, ABA Section on Legal Education
and Admissions to the Bar

J.D. University of Iowa
[high distinction, Order of the Coif]
M.A. University of Iowa [economics]
B.A. Buena Vista College [summa cum laude]

Dean Smith was appointed dean of California Western in 1996, following eight years as Dean at Cleveland-Marshall Law School. He had previously been a law professor at the University of Louisville, where he also served as Associate Dean and Acting Dean. Dean Smith has received awards for innovative teaching, research and creative activity, and distinguished service and has developed and taught courses and seminars on Health Law and Mental Health Law. He has published widely in law and psychology and law and medicine.

Dean Smith served as Deputy Director of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1987-88. He remains active in AALS and in the work of the American Bar Association, where he served as vice chair and chair of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar from 2003-2006.

Selected Publications

• Mental Health and Medical Rights:  The Suprem Court of the United States in 2010-11, THE REGISTER RPT, Fall 2011, at 34.
• with David L. Shapiro, MALPRACTICE IN PSYCHOLOGY: A PRACTICAL RESOURE FOR CLINICIANS (2011).
• MALPRACTICE IN PSYCHOLOGY (APA Press, in press)
• Gresham's Law in Legal Education, 17 J. CONTEMP. LEGAL ISSUES 171 (2008)
• "'The Fortune Cookie' (1966) and 'Whiplash Willie'--The Image of Lawyers," in SCREENING JUSTICE--THE CINEMA OF LAW, Strickland, Foster and Banks, eds. (2006).
• "Working with Courts, Judges, and Lawyers: What Forensic Mental Health Professionals Should Know About Being Expert Witnesses," in FORENSIC MENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS, Sparta and Koocher, eds. (2006).
• "The 'New' Supreme Court: The Insanity Defense Clarified by the Court," in process for members of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (2006).
• "The Best System of Accreditation in America, 38 Syllabus 2 (Fall 2006).
• "A Profession Engaged in Educating Its Next Generation, 37 Syllabus 2 (Winter 2005).
• "Deaning's Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Deadly Virtues," 36 University of Toledo Law Review 173 (2004).