HARRISBURG (May 4, 2010) - Dauphin County lawyer Jessie L. Smith of Harrisburg will begin a three-year term on the Pennsylvania Bar Association Board of Governors at the close of the organization's Annual Meeting, May 14 in Hershey. Smith will represent unit county bar associations on the board.

Smith currently serves as the Special Deputy Secretary for Dog Law Enforcement with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. She is a member of the PBA House of Delegates and is a Life Fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation. She was named the PBA's "Government Lawyer of the Year" in 2002 and is a current member of the PBA Agricultural Law Section, the PBA Animal Law and Government Lawyers committees, and the PBA Women in the Profession Commission. She is a past co-chair of the PBA Community and Public Relations Committee.

She is a past president of the Dauphin County Bar Association and served on the DCBA Board of Directors in 1989-91 and 1997-2002. She is a past president of the DCBA Young Lawyers Section and is a member of the DCBA Continuing Legal Education Committee, which she chaired in 1996-99, and the DCBA Government Law Section, which she chaired in 1997. She was a founder of and advisor to the Dauphin County Law Explorers.

She is a member of the American Bar Association and participated in the ABA Bar Leadership Institute and Young Lawyers Division Public Service Leadership Skills conferences.

Active in her Harrisburg community, Smith is the former president of the board of directors of the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area, Inc. She is a graduate of the Leadership Harrisburg Area Class of 2003 and was the recipient of the LHA's "20 Leaders/20 Years" Award in 2006. She served as a board member of The Monday Club, a Harrisburg-area women's networking group, and as president and member of the board of directors of Danzante, a non-profit corporation providing performances and youth education in dance and the arts of Spanish language cultures.

A graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, Smith is a cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review.

Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access to legal services; and serve the 29,000 lawyers who are members of the association.