Alyssa Smith serves as the Associate Director of Career & Professional Development and Judicial Clerkships at the Joseph F. Rice School of Law. She earned 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.

During law school, Alyssa was a Research Editor and a Casenote Editor for the Southeastern Environmental Law Journal and held several leadership roles, including Philanthropy Chairperson for the Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity, President of the Healing Species student organization, and Student Bar Association peer mentor. She also gained practical experience working at the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and previously worked at a large law firm in Charleston prior to law school.

Following graduation, Alyssa served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable C. Tolbert Goolsby, Jr., and later as a career judicial law clerk for the Honorable Paul E. Short, Jr. and the Honorable Paula H. Thomas of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. She also practiced law in private practice before returning to the Joseph F. Rice School of Law.

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