New deputy attorney had storied journey to get to Washakie County

Coming from a place of rural upbringing to spending much of her life practicing law in the metropolitan Northwestern United States, Washakie County Deputy Attorney Amy Smith is excited to have another go at the lifestyle she grew up with.

Smith, who has been in Worland for a year but only recently started as Washakie County deputy attorney, told the story of how she came into the position in an interview at the Washakie County Courthouse on March 29.

She never set out with the intention of being a criminal lawyer, but she is grateful that her life took her there. She said, "Wherever I feel like I'm going, that's where I'm going to apply myself."

Smith fulfilled her undergraduate degree in psychology at Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington. She was inspired to pursue psychology early on by her father, who would provide her reading material that formed her interests early on. She said, "From a young age, I had reading tastes that were very different from the rest of the kids. I read abnormal psych-medical books; my dad would provide me weird stuff to read."

Toward the end of her undergraduate studies, Smith spoke with the head of the psychology department at her university to discuss a graduate degree. She said, "A psychology degree alone is not as useful as if you pair it with a graduate degree. It's a good degree, but it doesn't leverage your ability to maximize the value of the money you put in unless you combine it with a graduate degree."

Smith said that one day she saw an advertisement in the hallway for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) which piqued her interest. She went back to the head of her department to inquire about it. She was told that it is the exam to get into law school and how anyone is allowed to take it.

Smith said at the time she was a "huge Perry Mason fan," the main character who works as a criminal defense lawyer in a series of detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner. This interest inspired by her reading compelled her to study for the LSAT, which she passed with high marks. Smith went on to earn a scholarship to attend Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon.

She said, "I think it's a really good combo having a background in psychology combined with law. You're working with people all the time so it's really helpful."

At first she thought she would want to do tort law, which involves representing people who have experienced loss or harm to seek compensation from those who wrongfully cause it. She then found herself in a class about contract law, and then she became enthralled with that. This caused her to focus a majority of her graduate studies on business law. By the time that Smith passed the bar exam to become a practicing lawyer in 2012, she decided not to be too picky with her first job and ended up working for the Chief Justice of the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Oregon.

She worked there for years, and was mentored by a criminal defense lawyer. Smith said at at that time, she still was not very interested in being a criminal defense lawyer but still applied herself to the field she worked in.

Smith would go on to work in a broad variety of law disciplines in the 25 years she lived in the Portland area. For her second job she worked in family law, and then went off on her own for a while doing criminal law and defense representation, and some business law.

She said, "The commonality between all these positions was that I was there to serve the client, to find out what was the best outcome for them, how to help them solve the problem."

Smith said that her current position is the culmination of all the other work she has done over the years.

She had been looking to relocate to Worland for the last three years because she has family in the area, but was waiting for the right opportunity. Things were set into motion when her oldest children, twins, graduated high school and went off to college, and her husband secured a job at Caterpillar in Worland. The family moved here in June of last year and Smith had been working remotely since then.

She expressed interested in seeking work at the courthouse when she heard news of John Worrall retiring from the position of county attorney at the end of last year, and did an interview with new County Attorney Anthony Barton when she saw that a position was available. She was hired earlier this year.

Smith said, "I do feel like I was meant to be here." She continued "When I came here, I was really excited because I have all those talents and skills, I can serve the community, and it's protecting the community and it's coming up with the best outcome where we have justice tempered with mercy."

She described her role as Washakie County deputy attorney as an obligation to her community to apply the law fairly, offering "justice for everybody equally." She said, "Even though I'm not voted into this position, I'm working for the county, which means every person out there is paying my salary because their taxes pay for it. I'm their representative in this position. That's the way I see it."

Smith exuded an air of passion as she said "Word gets around. If the law is upheld fairly, you know you can trust that, and then those prone to wanting to break the law, they hear about that and they know that it is going to be applied to them no matter their status. If I'm a citizen out there, I want that for me. It's the golden rule."

Her transition from metropolitan living to Worland has been a smooth one. She said "I really like the community a lot. People are friendly, they're kind and helpful; it's safe." She said she adjusted quickly to the weather and doesn't mind the cold and snow, and looks forward to gardening and owning chickens in the spring. She and her husband have taken full advantage of the reopening of the movie theatre, and have visited it once a week since they moved here.

Of her four children, the twins are in college out west and the 11 year-old and 5 year-old will grow up here, an experience that she is thrilled to provide them. Smith anticipates camping trips, listening to bluegrass and other adventures in her future in Worland.