Inez Smith Reid

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 byBill Clinton
Preceded byEmmet G. Sullivan
Succeeded byCorinne A. Beckwith
Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia
In office
September 15, 1983 – July 8, 1986
MayorMarion Barry
Preceded byJudith W. Rogers
Succeeded byJohn Suda (Acting)
Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency
In office
December 9, 1979 – January 25, 1981
PresidentJimmy Carter
Preceded byMalcolm Stringer (Acting)
Succeeded byErnest Bradley (Acting)
Personal details
Born
Elsie Inez Virginia Smith

(1937-04-07) April 7, 1937 (age 87)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
RelativesGeorge Bundy Smith (brother)
EducationHoward University
Tufts University (BA)
Yale University (LLB)
University of California, Los Angeles (MA)
Columbia University (PhD)
University of Virginia (LLM)

Elsie Inez Virginia Smith Reid[1] (born April 7, 1937)[2] is a former judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and former Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia.

Reid was born in New Orleans and raised in Washington, D.C., where she graduated from Dunbar High School.[2] 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.[3]

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.[4] After serving as a senior judge for six years, Reid retired on December 12, 2017.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs (1996). Nominations of Inez Smith Reid, Linda Kay Davis, Ronna Lee Beck, and Eric Tyson Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-16-052439-4.
  2. ^ a b The Honorable Inez Reid – The Road Less Traveled
  3. ^ "Reid Resigns Post as D.C. Corporation Counsel". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  4. ^ "Slow times at D.C. court". National Law Journal. March 8, 2010. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  5. ^ Thomas v. Buckley, No. 15-CV-0074, n.1 (D.C. 2018)
  6. ^ Report of District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission
  7. ^ With Pending Retirement, D.C. Appeals Court Seeks New Judge, The Blog of Legal Times, November 9, 2010