Lisa Smith is a speaker, recovery coach, podcast host, and former practicing lawyer and law firm executive. She is the author of the award-winning memoir, Girl Walks Out of a Bar. The book recounts her descent into and recovery from “high-functioning” alcohol and cocaine addiction in big New York City law firms.

Named one of The New York Law Journal’s 2020 “Trailblazers,” Lisa’s story launched her into the movement to advance well-being in the legal profession.

She co-hosts the podcast, Recovery Rocks, an inclusive discussion of issues affecting people in all kinds of recovery. In 2023, the podcast received a Signal Award for Best Buddy podcast.

Lisa is a founding member of the SHE RECOVERS® for Legal Professionals group. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers Depression Project, which works to break the stigma around all mental health disorders and to provide peer support. She previously served on the Advisory Board of Law.com’s Minds Over Matters mental health reporting project.

Lisa has appeared on TODAY, BBC World News, and FOX News discussing substance use disorders. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Women’s Health, Refinery29, TheTemper.com, A Women’s Thing, and WorkitHealth.com, among others.

Prior to beginning her more than 20-year legal administration career, Lisa practiced law in the Corporate Finance group of an international firm. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and Rutgers School of Law, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Rutgers Law Review.