Lavenski Roy "Vence" Smith (born October 31, 1958) is an American lawyer who has served as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit since 2002, serving as chief judge from 2017 to 2024. He previously served as an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court from 1999 to 2000.
Lavenski R. Smith
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Born 1958 in Hope, AR
FJC ID: 2948
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 29/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 373/year
Supreme Court of Arkansas · 1997–2004Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals · 2002–
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- African American
Prior employment
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 2017–2024
- Arkansas Public Service Commission1997–1999, 2001–2002
- ↳chairman · 1997–1999
- ↳commissioner · 2001–2002
- Arkansas Supreme CourtAssociate justice · 1999–2000
- Gov. Mike Huckabee, ArkansasRegulatory liaison · 1996–1997
- John Brown UniversityAssistant professor · 1994–1996
- Private practice, Springdale, Arkansas1991–1994
- Ozark Legal ServicesStaff attorney · 1987–1991
- ArkansasLaw clerk in private practice · 1985–1987
Appointments
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth CircuitChief Judge2002–present · Appointed by George W. Bush (Republican)
1997–2004
Education
- University of Tulsaba
J.D. · 1987- University of ArkansasB.A. · 1981