Inez Smith Reid
Elsie Inez Virginia Smith Reid (born April 7, 1937) is a former judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and former Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia.
Inez Smith Reid | |
|---|---|
| Senior Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals | |
| In office April 2, 2011 – December 12, 2017 | |
| Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals | |
| In office 1995–2011 | |
| Nominated by | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Emmet G. Sullivan |
| Succeeded by | Corinne A. Beckwith |
| Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia | |
| In office September 15, 1983 – July 8, 1986 | |
| Mayor | Marion Barry |
| Preceded by | Judith W. Rogers |
| Succeeded by | John Suda (Acting) |
| Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency | |
| In office December 9, 1979 – January 25, 1981 | |
| President | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Malcolm Stringer (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Ernest Bradley (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Elsie Inez Virginia Smith April 7, 1937 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Relatives | George Bundy Smith (brother) |
| Education | Howard University Tufts University (BA) Yale University (LLB) University of California, Los Angeles (MA) Columbia University (PhD) University of Virginia (LLM) |
Reid was born in New Orleans and raised in Washington, D.C., where she graduated from Dunbar High School. She began college at Howard University before graduating from Tufts University. After college, she joined her twin brother, George Bundy Smith, also a future judge, at Yale Law School, where they were the only two black students in their class. At Yale, Reid roomed with future delegate from D.C. Eleanor Holmes Norton and befriended Marian Wright Edelman.
After law school, Reid taught law in the newly independent Democratic Republic of the Congo and earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University. Unable to find work at law firms due to her race and gender, she took a series of teaching positions at Lehman College, Hunter College, Brooklyn College, and Barnard College. During the Carter administration, Reid moved to D.C. to work as Deputy General Counsel for Regulation Review at the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare and later as the first Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency. From 1983 to 1986, she served as Corporation Counsel for the District of Columbia, leaving to join the firm Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey.
In 1995, Reid was nominated by President Bill Clinton to become an associate judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals. At the time she retired from active status in 2011, she was the court's most prolific judge. After serving as a senior judge for six years, Reid retired on December 12, 2017.