About Kathy
Kathleen M. Smith, JD, is an experienced educator and attorney. She joined the faculty of Chestnut Hill College in 2019 as an associate professor and coordinator of the College’s new Law and Legal Studies major. Prior positions include Visiting Scholar at the Rendell Center for Civics and Civics Education, where she continues to volunteer. She is also a founding member of the Regional Youth Court Advisory Committee and was recently appointed by the Rendell Center to their Advisory Committee on Judicial Independence. She was previously employed by Community College of Philadelphia where she earned the academic rank of professor and directed the paralegal program and also founded and directed the Fox Rothschild Center for Law and Society which provides seminars, civic engagement projects, reentry support and service-learning opportunities.
Her work in developing service-learning opportunities has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Bar Association which awarded her the Jeffrey A. Enrico Award for Public Service. She has also been the co-recipient of four League of Innovation Awards, a finalist for the Bellwether Award and a winner of the Pennsylvania Council for Social Studies Stas Award for her work in developing a college-level Youth Court curriculum. Professor Smith has presented numerous times at PCSS conferences over the years on youth court and elementary mock trials. She also served as the chair of the Social Science Department at CCP for eleven years, co-chairing the College’s Middle States Self-Study, serving as a Curriculum Facilitator and as a member of technology and curriculum committees. She has also served as a Commissioner on the American Bar Association Standing Committee for the Approval of Paralegal Programs for three terms and was appointed and served on the Pennsylvania State Senate Advisory Committee on Youth Courts. She received her B.A. cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross and a J.D. from Antioch College School of Law.