About Barbara A.
Barbara A. Smith built a career on the appellate calendar. She arrived in law after an undergraduate double major in economics and political science from Wake Forest University in 2003, and earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2012. The trajectory that followed is unmistakably appellate and federal in character.
Her early law years included a clerkship on the D.C. Circuit for Judge Thomas B. Griffith in 2012. She spent time in private practice as an associate at Bancroft PLLC in 2013, then took a seat in the chambers of Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. at the Supreme Court in 2015. Those experiences gave her a close view of appellate decision making at both the circuit and highest-court levels.
After the Supreme Court clerkship she returned to practice and to teaching. In 2018 she served as an adjunct professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. In 2020 she joined Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP as partner and co-chair of its Appellate and Supreme Court Group. That leadership role places her at the center of the firm’s work on appeals and high-stakes federal litigation.
Her admissions cover a broad swath of the federal appellate system and district courts. She is admitted in the District of Columbia and in Missouri. Her federal admissions include the U.S. Supreme Court and a range of circuit courts: the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, the Federal Circuit, and the D.C. Circuit. She is also admitted in multiple U.S. district courts, including the District of Columbia, the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri, Central and Northern Districts of Illinois, Northern District of Florida, Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the Northern District of California. That spread allows her to appear on briefs and in argument across jurisdictions.
Her practice centers on appellate and Supreme Court litigation. She writes and argues appeals, handles petition practice, and manages cases as they move from trial courts to higher courts. Colleagues note the practical skill set she brings from clerkships and courtroom experience, and she has taken on matters that require strategic appellate planning. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and remains active in the firm’s appellate group.
She maintains her practice at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, where she co-chairs the Appellate and Supreme Court Group and continues to handle appeals and Supreme Court work.
