University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor Linda F. Smith recently presented papers in Melbourne Australia at the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education Conference at Monash Law School (Nov. 28 – 30) and at the International Legal Ethics Conference at Melbourne Law School (Dec. 6 – 8). 
All three papers have relied upon data from Smith’s study of a family law brief advice clinic. The papers deal with law students’ “Drive to Advice” in a brief advice clinic, their “Professional Identity Formation” as portrayed in their dialogue with clinic clients, and “Competence in a Student-Staffed Brief Advice Clinic.”
Smith has directed and developed the S.J. Quinney College of Law’s Clinical Program for more than two decades, where she has helped students’ combine service with their study of lawyering skills and ethics to produce greater self-knowledge while providing representation to needy clients and governmental entities. Her clinical work began at Yale Law School where she participated in the prison legal services clinic and continued at Greater Boston Legal Services where she was the senior attorney in family law and supervised Harvard Law clinic students.
Smith also has engaged in scholarship about the pedagogy of clinical legal education and civic engagement, including the need for access to justice. She focuses on the intersection of the lawyer’s skills and ethics, having written extensively on the skills of client interviewing from the perspective of conversation analysis. Her scholarly work, also includes writings in the area of family law.