Chesterfield Smith

This fund is composed of a substantial collection of Mr. Smith’s papers and speeches, which was established in 2008 by Jacqueline Allee Smith in memory of her husband, Chesterfield Smith. The purpose of this endowment supports research, acquisition of additional materials, and improved access to matters closely related to the interests of Chesterfield Smith. The collection resides in the Special Collections department of the George A. Smathers Libraries.

Smith combined a very successful private practice of law with a remarkable career working in the public interest. Tom Brokaw was the first to call him “America’s Lawyer” and “the conscience of the legal profession.” In a speech, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a close friend of Smith’s, said about him, “He has devoted his extraordinary talent and enormous energy to the improvement of the legal profession–to making the profession more honorable, more responsive to the people law and lawyers serve. He is, in sum, among the brightest, boldest, bravest, all around most effective lawyer ever bred in Florida and the U.S.A.”

The Chesterfield Smith Collection relates to Smith’s career as executive partner and principal architect of the law firm Holland and Knight, his time as President of the American Bar Association, his involvement in local, state, and national bar activities, as well as his influence in local, state, and national politics.