Professor Smith Futrell works to advocate for the rights of indigent people accused of crimes. Prior to joining the faculty, she was a trial attorney at the Bronx Defenders, a community-based organization with an interdisciplinary approach to criminal defense advocacy. She has also worked as an advisor in the Center for Public Interest Law at Columbia University Law School. Prior to attending law school, she studied South Africa’s post-apartheid criminal justice system as an Institute for International Public Policy Fellow. Professor Smith Futrell’s clinical practice and research and writing interests are focused on challenging discriminatory police practices, indigent defense reform, and social justice lawyering.