With 25 years of experience as an educator, executive, and attorney, Professor Kenya Smith will join the LSU Law faculty at the start of the Fall 2024 semester.
Since 2018, Smith has been a faculty member of the Southern University Law Center, teaching Business Entities, Contracts, Obligations, and Special Problems in Business Law, among other courses. He previously taught at the University of Idaho College of Law, Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, Arizona Summit Law School, and St. Thomas University School of Law.
After earning his law degree at the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1999, Smith returned to his native Louisiana to launch his legal career with Adams and Reese in New Orleans. As a member of the firm’s transactions and corporate advisory services team, Smith represented clients in tax, real estate, energy, general commercial, and corporate governance matters. From 2003 to 2010, he served in several senior executive positions for the City of New Orleans, including Executive Counsel to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor for Intergovernmental Relations, and Deputy Mayor for Community Development.
“I am honored to join the LSU Law community and to contribute to its national and international reputation in civil and comparative jurisprudence,” Smith said. “I am grateful for Dean Alena Allen’s leadership, and I look forward to working with my new colleagues, students, and other Law Center stakeholders to manifest this world class institution’s 21st century potential.”
While serving the City of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Smith worked with local agencies, the White House, and U.S. Congress to secure emergency and long-term recovery funding for public, residential, and commercial infrastructure repairs, and enhancements. He was also instrumental in the passage of the Go Zone Act and other economic development incentive programs. Immediately following his time in city government, Smith leveraged his crisis management and disaster recovery experience to serve as an advisor to the BP’s Gulf Coast Recovery Leadership team in the two years following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
“As a seasoned educator who has served in significant executive roles for the City of New Orleans and as an attorney with Adams and Reese, Professor Smith will bring invaluable practical experience and insights into the classroom,” said LSU Law Dean Alena Allen. “His diverse background will greatly enrich the learning experience for our students. I am excited to see the many contributions that he will make to the Law Center starting this fall.”
Smith’s scholarship focuses on the formation and taxation of business associations, constitutional law, and legislation, and has been published in the Louisiana Law Review, Marquette Law Review, Michigan Journal of Law Reform, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, Rutgers University Law Review, William & Mary Business Law Review and Tulane Law Review.
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