Phyllis Smith

Associate Professor
Phone: 407-254-3236
Email: phyllis.smith@famu.edu

Professor Phyllis Smith, Associate Professor, holds a LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and a J.D. from Florida State University and a B.S. from Florida A&M University. She practiced law for approximately eight years as a commissioned officer and attorney in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) where she provided estate planning needs to soldiers serving throughout the country and overseas. She is currently a Faculty Senator, a member of the Executive Council of the Florida Bar Tax Section, and a member of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the Florida Bar.  She also serves as a faculty advisor to the Women's Law Caucus and Estate Planning Sodality student organizations and as the faculty supervisor for the Volunteer Individual Taxation Assistance (VITA) program. Professor Smith focuses her scholarship on leading issues in tax policy. She published an article discussing how the tax policy limits access to higher education for low income individuals and families. She has also completed an article discussing the tax implications of self-settled domestic asset protection trusts to be published in the spring issue of the New England Law Review.

Publications by Professor Smith:

Articles:

• The Estate and Gift Tax Implications of Domestic Self-Settled Asset Protection Trusts:  Can You Really Have Your Cake and Eat It Too?  44 New Eng. L. Rev 25 (2009).

• The Elusive Cap and Gown: The Impact of Tax Policy on Access to Higher Education for Low Income Individuals and Families, 10 Berkeley J. Afr.-Am. L. & Pol'y 181 (2008).