Alyssa Smith is the Associate Director of Career & Professional Development. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of South Carolina, and her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she was the Research Editor and Casenote Editor for the Southeastern Environmental Law Journal. She also served as Philanthropy Chairperson for the Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity, President of the Healing Species student organization, and a Student Bar Association peer mentor.

Prior to returning to the Joseph F. Rice School of Law, Alyssa most recently served as a career judicial law clerk for the Honorable Paul E. Short, Jr. and the Honorable Paula H. Thomas at the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Following law school, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable C. Tolbert Goolsby, Jr. before practicing law in private practice. During law school, she worked at the Attorney General’s office, and before law school, she worked at a large law firm in Charleston.

Alyssa is admitted to practice in the State of South Carolina and the District of South Carolina. She also serves as the advisor for the law school’s Student Animal Legal Defense Fund.