Faculty Profile: Amy Smith

Amy R. Smith, J.D., serves as Senior Supervising Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services Office of General Counsel. Amy earned her bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Southern Mississippi. After working as a licensed social worker, she continued her education and earned her juris doctorate from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Following law school graduation, Amy relocated to Johnson City, Tennessee, and worked with Legal Aid of East Tennessee running a 10-county grant program providing civil legal representation to victims of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault. She made a brief 4-year return to Mississippi to serve as Assistant Court Administrator for the Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals before returning to Tennessee. Since then, she has worked with DCS and in private practice focusing primarily on juvenile and family law.  She is certified as a Juvenile Law-Child Welfare legal specialist and Rule 31 family mediator, and she was the 2025 recipient of The Mitchell Wendell Jurist Award presented by the American Public Human Services Association and Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children for significant contribution to the field of children’s law.