Skip to main content
Guest Name
Walter Smith
Walter Smith
Guest Occupation
Executive Director of DC Appleseed
Guest Biography

Walter has been the executive director of DC Appleseed since 2001. Previously, he served as the Special Deputy Corporation Counsel at the D.C. Office of the Corporation Counsel, now the Office of the Attorney General, where he focused on addressing the many receiverships in the District, supervising litigation affecting the school system, setting up pro bono assistance for the District from private law firms, and bringing a suit before a three-judge federal court seeking voting representation for the District in Congress.  

Walter practiced for 16 years at the law firm of Hogan Lovells, where he specialized in appellate litigation. For several years, he served as a partner and full-time director of the firm’s pro bono practice. He also served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps. Walter has argued numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the D.C. Court of Appeals. Walter has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma and a law degree from Harvard Law School. He served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Charles Clark on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  In 2011, Walter received the President’s Award from the Washington Council of Lawyers. 

In 2007, the Legal Times named him one of the “90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the last 30 years.” In addition to his many accomplishments, Walter reigned as the Hula Hoop Champion of Oklahoma in junior high.

wsmith@dcappleseed.org