Bridgette Smith-Lawson is the Managing Attorney for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Regions 5 & 6 consisting of 23 counties in Southeast Texas. Smith-Lawson began with the Department of Family Protective Services as a Regional Attorney assigned to Adult Protective Services and then to Child Protective Services. Smith-Lawson supervises a division of attorneys and legal assistants and provides direct legal advice to the Regional Directors for CPS and CPI Divisions on agency matters which impacts over 2,000 employees within the Gulf Coast Area. Smith-Lawson and her team also help support County Attorneys and District Attorneys across the Southeast Texas area. She also provides legal advice to the agency staff on a wide variety of matters including but not limited to child welfare law, civil litigation, policy interpretation, immigration (SIJS) and some probate and criminal matters. She has been awarded the “Extraordinary Coach Award” from the Health Human Service Commission and has completed the Executive Leadership Academy – ELA Class 8. Before joining the Department, Smith-Lawson was in private practice and practiced in the areas of criminal law, family law and personal injury, including pharmaceutical litigation, civil litigation, probate, bankruptcy (7,11,&13) and guardianship matters. Smith-Lawson graduated cum laude from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in May 2003 and was licensed in November 2003. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Houston in 2000 with a major in political science and a minor in english. Smith-Lawson is also licensed in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas since May 2004.
Smith-Lawson has participated in several inter-disciplinary organizations and focus groups whose goals are to research permanency practices, policy development, education and collaboration in protecting the aged and disabled populations and children. Smith-Lawson has also given numerous presentations to community organizations, civic groups, judges and Continued Legal Education (CLE) presentations regarding the awareness/prevention of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of the aged/disabled population and children. Recently, Smith-Lawson has announced her candidacy for the Fort Bend County Attorney position to focus her experience and expertise more locally after years of serving and supporting several counties in this area with DFPS.
Smith-Lawson enjoys being a public servant and considers serving others as her lifestyle both professionally and recreationally. Service is the debt we owe society, and whether it’s serving as a director of Childrens’ Ministry, which she has done for the past five years at her church, working in her Jack and Jill chapter, where she is currently Vice-President, coaching girls on a summer track team or volunteering at a local pantry, no job is beneath her when it comes to serving children and families and helping make somebody’s day and life better.
