Nancy Erika Smith
Partner
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BIOGRAPHY:
Ms. Smith graduated from Rutgers University Law School in Newark, New Jersey in 1980 and shortly thereafter began employment in a labor and employment litigation firm. In 1986 she and her partner Neil Mullin formed the firm that became Smith Mullin.

Ms. Smith’s dedication and exceedingly detail-oriented approach to employment law has garnered Smith Mullin tremendous success since its beginning. She has tried or argued such landmark cases as Slohoda v. United Parcel Service, Mucci v. Moonachie Board of Education, Truax v. Washington Twp., Green v. Carlin, Rathemacher v. IBM, Rendine v. Pantzer, Jorgensen v. Prudential, Harmon v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc., Kessler v. WWOR-TV, Gerardi v. Mul-T-Lock, Zacharias v. Whatman PLC, Caggiano v. Fontoura, deVries v. Secaucus, D’Onofrio v. Township of Warren. Ms. Smith and Mr. Mullin worked for over 20 years on Landano v. Rafferty, a pro bono case in which they successfully obtained the freedom of a man wrongly-convicted of killing a police officer.

Since 1986, and every year thereafter, Ms. Smith has been listed as an employment litigation specialist in “Best Lawyers in America.” In April 2009, she was listed as one of Superlawyers’ “Top Ten” best lawyers in New Jersey. She has been consistently listed in New Jerseys’ Top 100 lawyers and Top 50 female super lawyers since Superlawyers began publication in 1998.

Ms. Smith has spoken extensively at various conferences and summits. In September 2009, she taught a course to judges and barristers at Oxford University on issues related to employment law and discrimination. She has chaired the Employment Law Program at the New Jersey Judicial College, the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Bench Bar Conference, and the annual ICLE Labor Law Forum for many years. In early 2011, Ms. Smith moderated a panel of current and former female New Jersey Supreme Court Justices for the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Women in the Professional Section.

She has also served a full term on the Supreme Court Ethics Committee for Suburban Essex County, currently chairs a panel of the Supreme Court Attorneys’ Fee Arbitration Committee for Suburban Essex, and was elected Chair of the Labor and Employment Section of the NJSBA.

Ms. Smith fights tirelessly for those whose voices have been silenced. In 2000 she founded Wynona’s House, a non-profit child advocacy center in Newark that promotes a multi-disciplinary approach to finding justice for abused children. Ms. Smith has and continues to support many other causes and has been recognized for her work within the community. In May, 2002 she received the Samuel S. Saiber Professional Achievement Award from the Essex County Bar Association for her work and leadership in the Bar’s pro bono work after September 11th. On June 11, 2002, she also received the New Jersey State Bar Foundation’s Medal of Honor for her work with victims’ families after 9/11. In 2006, Ms. Smith received the President’s Meritorious Service Award from the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies. In 2007, Senator Menendez passed a Special State Recognition for her work promoting the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens.

Ms. Smith is admitted to the New Jersey State Bar (1980); the U.S. District Court of New Jersey (1980); the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit (1985); and the United States Supreme Court (1986).