About Debbie L
Debbie L Smith built a steady path into the law over several decades. Her undergraduate degree in sociology came from Southern Nazarene University in 1979. Two decades later she earned a master’s degree in political science from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1997. She completed her legal training at Oklahoma City University School of Law, receiving her J.D. in 2007.
Her entry into public practice was swift. In 2008 she served as an assistant district lawyer in the Oklahoma District Lawyer's Office for the 8th District. That role placed her in courtrooms and in the messy, often urgent work of daily prosecution and courtroom procedure. Four years later she took on teaching, joining Southern Nazarene University as an adjunct professor in 2012. She has combined practice and occasional teaching ever since.
She maintains a private practice under the name Debbie L. Smith, Lawyer at Law. The firm operates a main office and a Perry office. She is admitted to practice in Oklahoma and before the Federal Circuit. Her memberships reflect the areas she spends time on. She belongs to the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and holds memberships in several sections of the Oklahoma Bar: family law, bankruptcy law and juvenile law.
Those affiliations point to the kinds of matters she handles. Her work spans criminal defense, family law disputes, bankruptcy filings and juvenile matters. Cases can move quickly in each area and require familiarity with both state rules and federal procedures. Her background in public prosecution gives her a perspective on courtroom dynamics that she draws on for clients on the other side of those proceedings.
Colleagues and clients have encountered her in a number of settings: courtrooms in district and appellate venues, classroom settings when she has taught, and in consultations at her offices. She has kept a practice small enough to manage those different roles while remaining active in bar sections that match her caseload.
She has remained involved in professional circles since her admission to the bar and continues to participate in the bar sections noted above. Her teaching stint at Southern Nazarene University in 2012 adds an academic footnote to a career grounded in practice. She currently centers her practice on criminal defense, family law, bankruptcy and juvenile matters.
