The Hon. J. Christopher Smith is a judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court in California. He was appointed to the bench in May of 2017 by former governor Jerry Brown. He filled the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Russell S. Kussman (Ret.).
He is a registered Democrat.
Judge Smith graduated with his B.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. He went on to earn his J.D. from Mercer University School of Law.
Smith began his legal career at the Law Offices of DeBose and DeBose where practiced employment and business law as an associate for one year starting in 1996.
He left the firm to join the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office as a deputy public defender in 1997. He remained with the P.D.'s office for seven years until leaving in 2004.
In 2005 Smith became a lead attorney for the California Parole Advocacy Program, a program that helped train lawyers on how to better represent parolees. The program was operated by the McGeorge School of Law's Institute for Administrative Justice. While there, Smith helped to defend individuals who had violated their parole. He remained with the program for three years, until leaving to open his own practice in 2008.
Smith then entered into private practice, opening the Law Offices of J. Christopher Smith, where his area of practice continued to focus on criminal defense and parole advocacy. He remained in private practice until 2015.
Smith left the private sector when he was elected to serve as a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner in April of 2015. He was serving in that capacity at the time of his appointment to the bench in 2017.
He has been a member of the UCLA Alumni Association and the UCLA Black Alumni Association.
Judge Smith, who is a native of California, enjoys playing golf, reading and watching professional football.