Dean Smith graduated from Ohio State twice, earning a bachelor's degree in English and a J.D.  He practiced bankruptcy law at a large international law firm and then served as a career law clerk to United States District Judge Sandra Beckwith for 14 years before returning to the law school at Ohio State as Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs.  Since then, he has taught legal writing, appellate advocacy, civil procedure, pretrial drafting, and evidence for many years and is co-author of two legal writing textbooks. Before becoming an associate dean at Boyd in 2023, he taught here as visiting professor on several occasions.