Cathay Smith
Professor of Law
Chicago Kent College of Law
Cathay Y. N. Smith joined the Chicago-Kent College of Law faculty in fall 2024 from the University of Montana Blewett School of Law. She has also taught at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, New York Law School’s London Program, and was a visiting academic and research fellow at the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre (OIPRC) at the University of Oxford.
Smith’s research focuses on copyright law and free speech in contemporary culture and the art world. She teaches copyright law, property law, and art and cultural property law courses.
Professor Smith currently serves as co-director of Chicago-Kent’s Intellectual Property Law Program. Her past leadership experiences include serving as co-acting dean at Montana Law, and as the 2022 chair and 2021 chair-elect of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Intellectual Property.
Prior to entering academia, Professor Smith was an associate in the trademark and copyright group at Katten in Chicago where she represented multinational technology, fashion, and entertainment and media corporations. She’s admitted to the Bar in Illinois, Colorado, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Education
M.Sc., The London School of Economics and Political Science
J.D., Loyola University Chicago School of Law
B.S., Washington and Lee University
