Sheniece Smith is a champion of causes. In addition to her full-time job as associate general counsel for Children’s Hospital of Orange County, she’s actively engaged in pro bono work. The attorney is involved in eight organizations, including the California Minority Counsel Program Ambassadors Council, Santa Ana Paralegal Program Advisory Committee and H.O.P.E. Through Affordable Legal Services—a law firm she co-founded in 2013 to provide pro bono and low bono legal services to low-income clients in a variety of areas, such as bankruptcy, conservatorship and guardianship. The firm was sold to another attorney this year, but Smith remains an adviser.
The winner of the Business Journal’s eighth annual General Counsel Awards in the Rising Stars category said she does it all by working around the clock.
The awards dinner was held on Nov. 8 at Hotel Irvine (see related stories, pages 4, 6, 8 and 10).
Healthcare Law
“People asked me if I got into healthcare because it’s booming or because it’s CHOC,” she said. “But to be completely honest, I left my job at Warner Bros. because my husband was sick, and I was trying to go somewhere where I can make an impact and didn’t have to travel as far so I can take care of my husband.”
Smith worked as a contracts administrator at Warner Bros. in Burbank after earning her paralegal certificate in 2008 from the University of California-Irvine Extension. She worked there for about six months that year before joining CHOC in October as a legal department assistant.
It wasn’t what she wanted, but she took what was available, joining the three-person legal team, which also included a general counsel and a paralegal. She was quickly promoted by making herself indispensable.
“I seek out jobs that are beyond my pay grade and proved that I can do [those tasks well],” she said, adding that she just kept “pushing and pushing for more assignments” until Jay Gabriel—then general counsel and now chief legal officer—asked her, “Why are you answering my phone and filing? You should be doing this [legal] stuff.”
Smith said her “pushing” wasn’t intended to result in a position being created for her, but to “make myself valuable so there is the potential for more people to want to help you and promote you.”
Her achievements include setting up a multidisciplinary team to develop a telehealth program, and creating a legal clinic to provide free conservatorship and guardianship services to patients. She oversees a team of five attorneys and three law clerks, and reports directly to Gabriel.
“Everything I do is for the greater purpose of enhancing the well-being of children,” Smith said. The hospital’s latest initiative tackles mental health with expanded outpatient mental health services and 18 inpatient psychiatric beds launching next spring.
Smith is responsible for a wide range of responsibilities, including all general corporate matters, contract negotiation and drafting, and regulatory compliance. She starts her day reviewing needed tasks, followed by an email to her team letting them know what needs to be accomplished that day. She said there’s no such thing as a typical work day and that that’s why it’s important to set a daily agenda while remaining flexible, as “my priority can change in a phone call.”
Nontraditional Path
Smith graduated from California State University-Dominguez Hills in 2007 with a major in communications. She said she thought she would have a better opportunity in applying for public relations jobs but that that “was not where my passion was.” Indeed, she said she’d decided to be an attorney in sixth grade when she portrayed one in a mock court project based on the novel “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.”
Smith got her paralegal certificate first and later pursued a law education with encouragement from hospital colleagues. She graduated cum laude from the University of La Verne College of Law in 2012.
“When I was 17, I was working full time, and by the time I graduated, I had a house, was married and had two [stepsons] and could not imagine [law school] without a job,” she said.
Smith was raised by a single mother—“My mother didn’t go to college until much later in her life when I was in high school … she now has two master’s”—who instilled in her and her sister the importance of a plan and to not delay higher education.
A volunteer at the Constitutional Rights Foundation in Los Angeles, where she scored middle and high school mock trial competitions, Smith said she loves talking with students about career opportunities.
“There are certain circumstances given to people that can’t change—their parents, the circumstances they are born into, [being a] minority … but you can change your destiny if you are passionate. So much is possible if you follow your dream and work hard,” Smith said.
Family
She said family is very important to her; nine of hers came to cheer her on at the Business Journal’s awards dinner. Despite her busy schedule, she makes sure that immediate family, aunts, uncles and cousins get together once a month. Smith, while reflecting on the Business Journal award, was “at court handling cases and calling and texting and organizing Thanksgiving dinner.”
She said her husband, Darnell, is a big help. As her “No. 1 supporter,” he’s with her every step of the way, whether that’s making sure she eats, planning and going to family gatherings, or traveling with her to conferences and speaking events. “He really fills in where I can’t. I love my husband. He is great about cooking, cleaning and doing things that you need to make sure the family works.”
Smith’s stepsons—twin boys Dante and Deion—are college sophomores studying political science and communications, respectively.
She enjoys reading in her free time and is part of the Orange County Women Lawyers Association’s book club.
And then there’s her competitive side. “I like playing poker,” Smith said, adding that when she was in law school she played in the Women’s World Series of Poker and ranked pretty high. “Now that I am more settled in, I plan to get back into the circuit.”
Giving Back
Smith said she isn’t particularly interesting because she spends so much of her time working, both her full-time job and her pro bono work. Her activities paint a different picture.
She’s currently focused on expanding CHOC’s patient legal clinic. She said those needing conservatorship and guardianship services include patients who come into the hospital with someone who’s not their biological parent, and those who are severely disabled and need a conservator to manage finances and make decisions for them.
“At the legal department, we service about 70 to 100 patients a year. I tend to have 40 to 60 cases … right now I have 55 cases,” Smith said. She said the program needs approximately $30,000 annually to service those patients.
While Orange County is known for its wealth, Smith said many residents need pro bono legal services. She’s secretary and a board member of the Veterans Legal Institute in Santa Ana, an organization that provides legal assistance to homeless, at-risk, disabled and low-income current and former service members.
Smith said she’s passionate about pro bono work and helping those who can’t help themselves.
“It’s just so important that we help people,” she said, urging fellow attorneys to see the value of pro bono work.
She encourages fellow attorneys to take on more pro bono work and to volunteer with an organization.
“I can’t tell you how many clients have cried because they got someone to help them, sometimes even just writing a letter,” she said. “Attorneys have great power and opportunity to impact lives.”
