Archives West Finding Aid

Charles Z. Smith (1927-2016) received his Bachelor of Science degree from Temple University in 1952, and his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Washington School of Law in 1955. He also graduated from the National Judicial College at the University of Nevada in 1968, the Naval Justice School in Rhode Island in 1973, and served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in the Judge Advocate Division. Beginning in 1973, Smith worked as a Professor of Law at the University of Washington. He was the associate dean of the School of Law from 1973 until 1978. He then served as the Director of University District Defender Services, a clinical law program in the School of Law, from 1979 to 1982. In this time, he also was the Director of the Law School’s clinical programs.

After graduating law school in 1955, Smith was the Law Clerk for Justice Matthew W. Hill in the Washington State Supreme Court and then served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for King Country. Among the myriad of jobs he had, Smith also was the Assistant Chief of the Criminal Division, private practice lawyer in Seattle, Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice, and judge for the Municipal Court of Seattle’s Criminal Department.

While at UW, he was on the Advisory Board for the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Institute, a Faculty Advisory Committee on the Resident Release Project, and a committee member on the Committee on Criminal Justice Graduate Education began by Professor Ezra Stotland. Outside of UW, he was on various committees and boards on Juvenile Justice and the National Associated for the Advancement of Colored People. Smith was the first person of color and the only African American to serve as the Washington State Supreme Court Justice, a position he held between 1988 and 2002.