Clinical Legal Education Program: Welcome Message

Katrina L. Smith serves as Interim Associate Dean of Clinical Legal Education and Experiential Learning at North Carolina Central University School of Law, where she provides strategic leadership for the Law School's clinical and experiential education programs. She also serves as assistant clinical professor of law, clinical director and supervising attorney of the Family Law Clinic, and competition teams coordinator.

A proud triple Eagle of NCCU, Interim Associate Dean Smith returned to her alma mater after building a successful legal practice and founding Smith Legal Solutions in 2010. Since joining the faculty, she has taught both clinical and doctrinal courses, including Evidence, Appellate Advocacy, Pleadings and Practice, and the Family Law Clinic. Her work is dedicated to preparing practice-ready attorneys through experiential learning, trial advocacy, and innovative legal education.

Interim Associate Dean Smith is a respected educator, attorney, and leader whose work centers on experiential legal education, emerging technology and artificial intelligence, access to justice, family law, and professional formation.

Learn More About Dean Smith

My vision is for NCCU Law’s Clinical Legal Education Program to stand among the nation’s leading models of mission-driven, community-centered legal education. Through rigorous experiential learning, thoughtful innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and enduring community partnerships, we will prepare students to meet the demands of a changing profession with skill, integrity, and purpose.

Our success will be reflected not only in the lawyers we prepare, but also in the clients served with dignity, the communities strengthened through advocacy, and the broader pursuit of justice advanced through our work.

The Clinical Legal Education Program at North Carolina Central University School of Law is strengthened by the judges, attorneys, law firms, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, businesses, alumni, and community leaders who invest in our students and our mission. These collaborations help ensure that our students learn the profession through service while responding to the evolving needs of the communities we serve.

View Our Community Partners

The work of the Clinical Legal Education Program is sustained by those who believe that legal education must prepare students not only to enter the profession, but also to lead, serve, and advance justice.

Your support expands opportunities for experiential learning, strengthens client-centered legal services, and helps ensure that NCCU Law students are prepared to meet the needs of a changing profession and the communities they will serve.

Click "Support the CLEP" to invest in this vital work.

Support the CLEP

Whether you are interested in partnering with our program, mentoring a student, supporting our work, seeking legal assistance through one of our clinics, or learning more about clinical legal education at NCCU Law, we invite you to connect with us.

Click the button below to email our team.

Email Our Team