Teaching

Suffolk University

Ms. Smith has been an adjunct professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts.

She taught the following classes in the College of Arts and Sciences at Suffolk University:

• Family Law in the Fall Semester in 2008 and Spring Semesters in 2012, 2021 and 2024,
• Diversity, Acceptance and Wellness in the Winter Session from December 2020 to January 2021 and December 2022 to January 2023,
• Ethics and Legal Practice Skills in the Spring and Fall Semesters in 2018 and Fall Semester 2019,
• Fundamentals in the Fall Semesters in 2015 and 2016 and
• Civil Litigation in the Fall Semester in 2009 and Litigation in the Spring Semester in 2016.

Other Colleges

Attorney Smith has taught Civil Procedure, Litigation Techniques, Tort Law and American Jurisprudence to paralegal students. She taught at Framingham State College in Framingham, Massachusetts and Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts through the National Academy of Paralegal Studies, Inc. and at Mt. Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts.

Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

In June 2024, Attorney Smith spoke on a panel on “The Dream Team, Helping with Transition Using the Collaborative Law Process” at the (AFCC) Association of Family and Conciliation Courts 61st Annual Conference  in Boston, Massachusetts.

On June 2, 2017, Attorney Smith spoke on a panel on  “Protecting Children and Families by Using the Collaborative Law Principles” at the  (AFCC) Association of Family and Conciliation Courts’ 54th Annual Conference, “Turning the Kaleidoscope of Family Conflict into a Prism of Harmony.”

View from the Bench: The Juvenile Court Justices of Middlesex County

Ms. Smith co-chaired “A View from the Bench: The Juvenile Court Justices of Middlesex County” for 23 years . This seminar was sponsored or cosponsored by the Middlesex County Bar Association (from 1996 to 2000, 2003 and 2004), the Committee for Public Counsel Services (from 1996 to 2001), the Massachusetts Bar Association ( from 2001 to 2004) and the Juvenile Bar Association in Massachusetts (from 2005 to 2019).

Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council, Inc.

On May 13, 2022, Attorney Smith spoke on a panel on Culture and Conflict at the advanced training called the Roundtable for the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council, Inc.

On May 21, 2021, Ms. Smith presented  for the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council, Inc. with Joy Piper on “Using Social Media to Address Bias and Diversity in the Collaborative Community.”

On June 9, 2011, Ms. Smith spoke with an attorney and a divorce coach at a members meeting for the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council, Inc. on “Ideas on Making Collaborative Law Accessible and Affordable to More Clients: A Panel and Member Discussion.”

Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services

From February, 1996 to the present, Ms. Smith has been a Mentor for the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services to newer attorneys in helping them with their Care and Protection and Child Requiring Assistance (formerly called Child in Need of Services) cases.

Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. 

Attorney Smith was on the Curriculum Committee in Family Law for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc.  from January 2002 to August 2010.

Ms. Smith  taught at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts in family law beginning in March 2002. She was on the faculty for the Family Trial Law Advocacy Workshops from 2002 to 2009. In December 2007, on June 24, 2010, February 1, 2013 and in December 2015, Ms. Smith chaired and taught on “Paternity and Parenting”.   Ms. Smith taught at the “Alimony Summit 2010” on September 15, 2010. On January 22, 2014, Attorney Smith was the Chair and taught on “Collaborative Family Law”.  She was the  Chair and taught on a panel on “Zealous Advocacy for Unmarried Parents” on June 18, 2014.  On April 9, 2018, Attorney Smith was the Chair and spoke on “Updating Prenuptial & Separation Agreements in Family Law Cases.”  On March 20, 2019, Attorney Smith was the Chair and spoke at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education on a panel on: “Updating Separation, Paternity & Postnuptial Agreements: Smart Solutions To Family Problems.”

Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation, Inc.

On September 14, 2022, Attorney Smith was the moderator and presenter at the Professional Development Workshop for Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation, Inc.  on
“How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Divorce: History and Emergent Issues in Law and Mediation” with April White, author of The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier.

On November 15, 2017, Attorney Smith spoke at a Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation Professional Development Meeting on a panel on “Mediating Premarital Agreements: “I Do” or “I Don’t.””

The Divorce Center, Inc.

Attorney Smith has been a lecturer for The Divorce Center, Inc.
On May 15, 2012, Attorney Smith taught on “the New Alimony Reform Act”  at the Weston Public Library in Weston, Massachusetts. Ms. Smith spoke on April 30, 2011 on “What is the process and where do I start,” including talking about mediation and collaborative law.

In the spring of 2006, Ms. Smith acted as the wife’s attorney in “A Divorce Play in Four Acts” for the Divorce Center, Inc., which is available on DVD.   A video on Alimony that Attorney Smith spoke at is currently on the Divorce Center’s website. For more information about The Divorce Center’s programs and the DVD, visit http://thedivorcecenter.org/

Massachusetts Justice of the Peace Association, Inc.

On November 4, 2006, November 13, 2011 and April 7, 2019, Ms. Smith spoke on “Contracts” for the Massachusetts Justice of the Peace Association, Inc.

(c) Copyright 2024. Debra L. Smith. All Rights Reserved.