Linda O. Smiddy

Professor Linda O. Smiddy, an authority on contract and corporate laws, has taught courses in Contracts, Corporate Finance, Corporations, and Comparative Law.

Professor Smiddy received her BA degree from Northwestern University in 1964 and her MAT degree from Harvard University in 1965. After serving as a department manager, systems engineer, and instructor for IBM, Professor Smiddy received her JD degree, magna cum laude, from Vermont Law School in 1979, where she graduated first in her class and served as the articles editor of the Vermont Law Review. After clerking for the Honorable James S. Holden, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, she received her LLM degree from Yale Law School in 1983. She has been associated with the firms of Cravath, Swaine and Moore in New York; Cummings and Lockwood in Stamford, CT; and a partner in the firm of Smiddy and Smiddy of Woodstock, VT. She has also served as director of BankNorth of Woodstock, VT. Professor Smiddy has been a full-time member of the Vermont Law School faculty since 1988. Professor Smiddy received the Vermont Bar Association's Distinguished Service Award in 1992. She served as associate dean for academic affairs from 1994 to 1997 and as Vermont commissioner for the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws from 1996 to 2001. Since 1996, she has been an elected member of the American Law Institute. Professor Smiddy served as the director of VLS's International and Comparative Law Programs from 1998 to 2008. Fluent in French, Professor Smiddy has been a visiting professor at the University of Paris 13, where she was awarded an honorary degree, Doctorat Honoris Causa, the first woman to receive the honor from that institution. She has co-taught comparative contract law at the Institute on World Legal Programs, University of Innsbruck, Austria, and has co-taught “The Supreme Court in United States History” at Innsbruck with the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Professor Smiddy has testified before the legislature of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, on “Access to Corporate Information in the United States,” and before the Vermont legislature on anti-takeover legislation, limited liability company law, business corporation law, the law of closely held businesses, and other business organization matters.