Alumna Named Legal Assistance Executive Director

Alexis Highsmith Smith, Hamden Hall Class of 1997, has been named executive director of the New Haven Legal Assistance Association. Alexis is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Wisconsin Law School. She joined New Haven Legal Assistance as deputy director in 2012. She was a staff attorney at Greater Hartford Legal Aid from 2006-2012. She is a native of New Haven. Alexis has served as an officer of the Connecticut Bar Association and president of the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association. She was featured in Connecticut Magazine's "40 Under 40" in 2015. In 2012, she was honored by the Connecticut Law Tribune as a "New Leader in the Law.” She has served on the boards of the New Alliance Foundation, St. Thomas's Day School, Elm City Internationals, Highville Charter School, the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology, and Community Partners in Action and is a certified soccer referee. Alexis lives in Hamden with her husband Ken and their three children. Hamden Hall congratulates Alexis who was inducted in our school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014. New Haven Legal Assistance board president Beverly J. Hodgson said of Alexis, "the board is delighted to have a leader with such deep connection to our mission of providing legal services to the poor and advancing justice and equal rights under the law." New Haven Legal Assistance Association has a 51-year history as a nonprofit law firm serving clients in the greater New Haven area. Its mission is to provide high quality legal assistance to low income individuals.