"Wisconsin’s law-in-action
philosophy
breaks the divide between what the
law says and how it really
functions."
Read the full interview
Hometown: Greenfield, Wisconsin
Education: B.A., University of Wisconsin (Theatre & Drama, Women’s Studies)
Employment: Associate – DeWitt Ross & Stevens; Madison, Wisconsin
Law School Activities:
- President of the UW Mock Trial Team
- Articles Editor & Symposium Editor of the Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal
- Secretary of the Latino Law Students Association
- Recipient of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Leonard Loeb Award for academic excellence and contribution to family law
- Lieutenant Governor of Communications for the 7th Circuit (ABA Student Division)
- Proficient in Spanish
“I’m fulfilling my aspirations,” says Rebecca Smith, who became interested in the law as a high school student when she needed to help a family member negotiate the legal system. She encountered first-hand the difficulty of finding a family law attorney who could identify with her family’s language and cultural differences, and this was the catalyst for her passion and drive to become a family law attorney. Now she is a lawyer at the firm at which she clerked during the summer after her second year of law school. She is practicing family law, and also doing business law and real estate.
Rebecca’s work as a student attorney with the Family Court Assistance Project, one of the Law School’s clinical programs, was a broadening and important part of her legal education. She gained practical knowledge and worked directly with clients. Her experiences included helping low-income individuals with family law issues, working to expand the scope of the clinic from its original focus of divorce to include other areas of family law, and working with the Clinic's Director to assist the growing number of domestic violence victims who turned to the clinic for help.
Read more in "An Interview with Rebecca Smith"