Nick Smith

Nick E. Smith is a justice system and housing policy expert. He’s a change maker. He’s currently First Deputy Public Advocate for the City of New York. In this role, he is responsible for representing Public Advocate Williams and leading the policy, legislative, communications and community engagement divisions of the office. Previously, Nick served as a Legislative Representative in the de Blasio Administration. In this role, he negotiated more than 200 pieces of legislation and advised city agency heads, including on budget affairs. For example, he was lead negotiator for a law that made all calls from incarcerated persons on Rikers Island free. Nick, a proud father of twins girls, received his law degree from St. John’s University School of Law and undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.