Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Joyce Smithey focuses her practice primarily in the area of employment law. Ms. Smithey regularly advises employers and employees on matters of discrimination, affirmative action, wage and hour issues, restrictive covenants, and sexual harassment. In addition to handling employment litigation, Ms. Smithey assists employers and employees with employment law compliance, drafting employee handbooks, and providing on-site training sessions to managers and employees on employment law topics. Ms. Smithey has represented clients in state and federal courts, and before the Department of Labor, the Department of Employee Security, the Commission on Human Relations, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has handled numerous jury trials, appellate oral arguments, bench trials, motion hearings, equity petitions, and damages hearings.

Ms. Smithey has taught seminars and law school courses on employment law topics, including restrictive covenants, employee handbooks, hiring and interviewing practices, discrimination, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and employee evaluations. She has also published extensively on employment law and civil litigation.

Ms. Smithey is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Sections of the Maryland State Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the American Bar Association, and she is a member of the Women’s Bar Association of Maryland, the National Employment Lawyers Association, and the Maryland Employment Lawyers Association. Ms. Smithey also does extensive pro bono work in the area of employment law, including serving on the Employment Law Hotline for the Women’s Law Center and teaching in the Workplace Street Law Program. She has also authored amicus briefs for the National Employment Lawyers Association. She has served her community as a member of the Executive Committee of the Pepperdine University Washington D.C. Waves, a mentor for the Pepperdine University Washington D.C. Internship Program, a member of the Board of Trustees for Dress for Success New Hampshire, a member of the Board of Directors for the New Hampshire Safety and Health Council, and a volunteer tutor for the Central Area Youth Association. She currently serves as an officer on the Board of Directors for the Bay Hills Community Association.

Ms. Smithey received her Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law where she researched and authored “Housing Discrimination Against People with Mental Disabilities: How does the Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988 Help Implement the Goals of Deinstitutionalization?” Ms. Smithey received her Bachelor of Arts from Pepperdine University. She is admitted to practice in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and New Hampshire. Prior to becoming a partner at Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan, & Silver, LLC, Ms. Smithey practiced at Gorman & Williams in Baltimore, Maryland and Upton & Hatfield, LLP, one of the largest and most respected firms in New Hampshire.