{"id":4939,"date":"2025-10-15T19:35:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T19:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/?p=4939"},"modified":"2025-10-15T19:35:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T19:35:48","slug":"kerri-smith-rising-star-in-baltimore-legal-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/kerri-smith-rising-star-in-baltimore-legal-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerri Smith: Rising Star in Baltimore Legal Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By Christianna McCausland<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Kerri<\/strong><\/p>

Kerri Smith<\/strong> is having a moment. After graduating magna cum laude<\/span> in 2012 from UBalt Law, she has built a career in real estate law at Silverman Thompson Slutkin White, where she became a partner earlier this year. An active participant in local, state and national bar associations, she was named one of the top 40 young lawyers in the nation by the American Bar Association in 2023, received the Edward F Shea Jr. Professionalism award from Maryland in 2024, and recently took the reins as president of the Baltimore Bar Foundation. Oh, and the governor recently appointed her to the board of trustees for the Office of the Public Defender.<\/span><\/p>

If the Baltimore legal community has a rising star, it must be Kerri Smith.<\/span><\/p>

Hon. Teresa Epps Cummings, J.D. \u201902<\/span><\/b>, an administrative law judge and immediate past president of Bar Association of Baltimore City, has advice for anyone who works with Smith: \u201cBe ready to match her energy!\u201d Cummings describes Smith as the epitome of a dedicated, hardworking leader. \u201cKerri puts her heart and soul into whatever project she has volunteered\u202fto handle,\u201d she says. \u201cShe is a dependable team player who solves problems expeditiously and with a\u202fsmile.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Smith exudes positivity and high energy even on Zoom, sitting in her office at Silverman Thompson discussing her time at UBalt Law. After deciding to go to law school and knowing she wanted to stay near family in Baltimore, she chose UBalt on the recommendation of others in the profession. And it was early experiences at the school that set her on her career trajectory.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThe most important experience that really kicked everything off was the summer after my first year. I applied to the EXPLOR program and Professor [Byron] Warnken placed me with Judge Joe Murphy,\u201d Smith recalls. Working in the Maryland Court of Appeals, she got her first exposure to litigation, which has grown to be one of her passions. And when she applied to be a law clerk at Silverman Thompson, Smith listed Murphy as a reference. In a made-in-Baltimore moment, it just so happens Murphy was then retiring and moving to Silverman Thompson to do mediation.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t know that that\u2019s the reason they picked me to be a law clerk that year, but for me it was the confirmation that this was a place that I thought I would like,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIt\u2019s probably one of the things that made me decide to accept the position that summer.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

At Silverman Thompson she worked her way through many areas of law, but working in real estate she met Avery Strachan, her first mentor and someone she continues to work with today. While her work in real estate law covers a vast array of issues, she has a specialty in landlord-tenant law. \u201cIt appeals to me because it\u2019s an area of law that changes all the time,\u201d says Smith, explaining that the work involves local, state and federal laws and can be heard in all levels of the court.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cAs someone who likes to litigate, it\u2019s fun and it\u2019s exciting to do a little bit of everything and be in different courts,\u201d she continues. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in district court, you\u2019re flying by the seat of your pants, and things are moving really quickly; but I also like the circuit court or federal court cases that are more complex and offer the opportunity to dig into legal research and writing. … The thing I like the most, really, is arguing about the law.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

With a career like Smith\u2019s, it\u2019s no surprise that she describes herself as someone who is a planner, not a procrastinator. She also does nothing by halves. When she was involved with the Young Lawyers Division at BABC, she helped plan its annual holiday event for youth in homeless shelters. But she wanted each child (about 200 of them) to also go home with a gift. So she kicked off a toy drive at Silverman Thompson that continues to this day. Then she got everyone involved in gathering back-to-school supplies. She now leads the firm\u2019s community service initiatives and its Women\u2019s Legal Network, which promotes intra-office mentorship and advancement.<\/span><\/p>

An avid runner, Smith also volunteers with Athletes Serving Athletes. The group pairs \u201cwingmen\u201d like Smith to runners with mobility disabilities, enabling them to participate in mainstream running events using adaptive joggers. \u201cWe do other things outside of just running together, like an ice cream night, and it\u2019s been really fun to do something I like to do on my own \u2014 running \u2014 but to also make this whole new group of friends I would have never otherwise encountered in my life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

J<\/span><\/b>ames P. Robinson, J.D. \u201913<\/span><\/b>,\u202fa partner at Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann, has worked with Smith at a number of organizations and says her passion for public service shines through in that work. He notes that she is deeply motivated by a desire to foster camaraderie and collaboration within the legal community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cKerri consistently demonstrates a remarkable willingness to help others,\u201d says Robinson. \u201cFor example, I recently had a client in need of guidance on a residential real estate matter. I immediately thought of Kerri and reached out to her. Despite it being the weekend, she responded promptly and connected with the client within 24 hours. Her responsiveness, generosity with her time, and reliability exemplify the kind of professional \u2014 and person \u2014 she is.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Smith says that making friends, helping young lawyers learn how to be good lawyers, and supporting the legal and local community are the reasons she stays so involved in industry groups and nonprofit work. With energy to spare, Smith\u2019s moment in the sun is unlikely to set anytime soon.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Christianna McCausland\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>is a writer based in Baltimore.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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By Christianna McCausland Kerri Smith is having a moment. After graduating magna cum laude in 2012 from UBalt Law, she has built a career in real estate law at Silverman Thompson Slutkin White, where she became a partner earlier this year. An active participant in local, state and national bar associations, she was named one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4939"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5291,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4939\/revisions\/5291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/lawmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}