Bea Ann Smith

SMITH, BEA ANN (1943 ~ ). Bea Ann Smith, Justice, Third Court of Appeals, was born November 16, 1943 in Ardmore, Oklahoma to L. B. Asbury, Jr. and Betty Slocombe Asbury Smith. She graduated from Midland High School in 1961. She received a B.A., M.A., and a J.D from the University of Texas at Austin, Brandeis University, and the University of Texas Law school, respectively.

During her academic career she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Order of the Coif and made Texas Law Review. Following graduation from law school in 1975 she was a law clerk for the Honorable Thomas Gee, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Judge Smith practiced law at her own practice and at Graves, Dougherty, Hearon, & Moody. In 1991, Governor Ann Richards appointed Smith to the Court of Appeals at Austin to fill the vacant seat left by Justice Bob Gammage, when he won election to the Supreme Court of Texas.

Judge Smith taught English at Texas Southern University and at various oversees programs and she taught law at the University of Texas from 1982 to 1989 and 1997 to the present.

Judge Smith's professional activities include Board of Directors, National Association of Women Judges; Committee on Judicial Ethics; Texas Bar Foundation Fellow; Board of Advisors, Texas Journal of Women and the Law; and Founding Director, Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas. She has been involved with Austin Women's Center, All Saints' Episcopal Church, Austin Dispute Resolution Center, and Leadership Texas.

Information provided by Bea Ann Smith.