Despite not having graduated from law school until the age of 42, the judicial timeline for the Honorable Fern M. Smith spans nearly two decades of state and federal service, highlighted by her tenure on the Northern District of California and her leadership of the Federal Judicial Center. Judge Smith was nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in May 1986, confirmed by the Senate on July 26, 1986, and received her commission the following day. Due to the proximity of the Northern District to Silicon Valley, her docket was heavily weighted by civil intellectual property cases.
In 1999, Judge Smith was appointed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist to serve as Director of the Federal Judicial Center. During her tenure there, she was a member of the Board of Editors for The Manual on Civil Litigation (fourth) She also traveled extensively, under the auspices of USAID and the State Department, to advise international judges on methods to improve case management of civil litigation. Those trips included meeting with the judiciary in Israel, India, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, China, Japan, and Thailand.
In 2003, Judge Smith took Senior Status and returned to the Northern District. She retired from office in 2005. For the next ten years she worked with JAMS national arbitration and mediation services, where she chaired the arbitration panel involving numerous States against the tobacco industry. Judge Smith also served as a court-appointed Special Master in a multi-district case against a national pharmaceutical company.
Prior to her years on the federal bench, Judge Smith was in private practice from 1975-84 with the San Francisco firm of Bronson, Bronson and McKinnon, where she tried cases and became the firm’s first woman partner, in 1981. From 1984-1986, she was a Judge of the Superior Court of San Francisco, having been appointed by Governor George Dukmajian. She received her AA from Foothill College, her BA with distinction from Stanford University, and her JD from Stanford Law School.
Judge Smith has two daughters, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.