James Charles Smith is the John Byrd Martin Chair of Law Emeritus at the University of Georgia, where his courses include Property, Real Estate Transactions, Secured Transactions, Housing Law, Contracts, and Real Estate Development. He graduated from Saint Olaf College and the University of Texas School of Law and practiced law for four years with the firm of Baker Botts in Houston, Texas, specializing primarily in real estate finance, commercial sales of real estate, retail and office leasing, and the formation of real estate partnerships and joint ventures. He is author of five books (The Law of Neighbors; Contracts and Conveyances of Real Property; Federal Taxation of Real Estate; Property: Cases and Materials; and Real Estate Transactions: Problems, Cases, and Materials) and numerous articles and book chapters dealing with property, housing, real estate transactions, commercial law, and taxation. He is a Fellow of ARECL and department's editor of the ABA magazine, Probate & Property. He has run the Boston Marathon five times.
