Spencer Smith is an assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, where he teaches constitutional law and antitrust law. In 2026, Smith received the Law School’s L. Hart Wright Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Before joining Michigan Law, Smith served in the United States Department of Justice and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. He maintains a pro bono practice and has served as a special assistant attorney general of Michigan, representing the State in a unanimous Supreme Court victory against an oil pipeline company.

Related Information

Areas of Interest

Education
  • University of Michigan, BS, with highest distinction
  • University of Oxford, DPhil, Marshall Scholar 
  • Harvard University, JD, magna cum laude

    • Clerkships

    • US Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor
    • US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Hon. Guido Calabresi

    Featured Scholarship

    "On Tort Law's Dualisms"

    Harvard Law Review Forum
    WWW

    "The Indirect Purchaser Rule and Private Enforcement of Antitrust Law: A Reassessment"

    Journal of Competition Law & Economics
    WWW
    • Intellectual Property and Antitrust

    "Casting a Wider Tax Net: Experimental Evidence from Costa Rica"

    American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
    WWW
    • Tax Law
    See All Scholarship

    News

    Michigan Law students attend class in Jeffries Hall room 120.
    News

    Students Recognize Professors Spencer Smith, Kerry Kornblatt, Frank Vandervort, and Adrian Ohmer, ’13, with 2026 Teaching Awards

    A "Welcome to Michigan" banner is hung outside the Lawyers Club, welcoming all who pass by.
    News

    New Faculty Members Join Michigan Law’s 2024-2025 Academic Year

    A portrait of Spencer Smith.
    News

    Justice Department Lawyer Spencer Smith Joins Michigan Law Faculty