Coming Full Circle

By Denise Elizabeth Lee Philosophy and Sociology '83

Today, her life has come full circle. As an active member of the UMBC Alumni Association, Fajer-Smith leads programs that bring new students to UMBC and provide opportunities to current prelaw students.

The daughter of a physician, Fajer-Smith came to the U.S. from Brazil with her family when she was five years old. She decided at a young age to become an attorney. "I wanted to help people," she says. She chose UMBC because she could stay in Maryland and because, "UMBC had the benefits of a private school," without the cost.

Fajer-Smith attended law school at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, worked at a private law firm and then opened a law office in her hometown of Bowie, MD. She later added branch offices in Waldorf and Crofton. She is bringing on a partner soon to join her growing 10-year-old practice.

Recently, Fajer-Smith reconnected with her alma mater. "I wanted to give back to the school that has given me so much," she says. "It is very rewarding to see UMBC doing so well under the direction of President Freeman Hrabowski."

She conducted research for George LaNoue, UMBC policy sciences professor, and served on the UMBC judicial board while in law school, but soon devoted her time to establishing her law practice. She met Hrabowski at a Prince George's County alumni event a few years ago, and like so many others, was "recharged."

"I did not want to join something just to join it," says Fajer-Smith. "I wanted to wait until I could really be committed."

She is definitely committed. Fajer-Smith is chair of the UMBC Law Society Steering Committee, which promotes interaction between alumni lawyers and provides a network of assistance to prelaw students. She and her husband are hosting a UMBC foreign student and she plans to host a legal intern this year at her law firm in Bowie. She is also a new member of the President's Club (individuals who contribute $10,000 or more to UMBC), and she has founded a scholarship at Bowie High School that will help support a student each year to attend UMBC.

Her quiet and understated manner give little hint of her drive and gentle humor. When describing her career choice, she says, "Well, we already had one doctor in the family." Her affection for UMBC, however, is very clear. "It feels like home whenever I am at UMBC. And wherever I talk to a UMBC person, it's like meeting family."

Fajer-Smith's husband Mark graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, but she has brought him to so many UMBC events that he is "an honorary UMBC alum," she says. She has a clear message about UMBC. "I want people to see how far we have come," she says. There are some 500 alumni lawyers, for example.

Jason Fleischer is one of those future lawyers. A political science major due to graduate in 1999, Fleischer is interested in corporate litigation. Like Fajer-Smith, he chose to attend UMBC for pragmatic reasons.

"I am from Maryland, and quite honestly, I chose UMBC because I received a full scholarship and I felt it behooved me to save my money for law school. Yale tuition is now in the realm of 30K a year," says Fleischer.

Since 85 percent of UMBC alumni live and work in Maryland, there's a good chance that Fleischer will return to Maryland after law school. He credits the UMBC Law Society Steering Committee, chaired by Fajer-Smith, with introducing him to "the cream of Maryland legal society." Such contacts can be fruitful later. "It's an entrance, a foot in the door into the legal profession," he says.

Fajer-Smith remembers the importance of such experiences and enthusiastically endorses the UMBC prelaw internship program, administered by the Department of Political Science. "My legal internships gave me practical experience," she says, "and helped me figure out what areas of law I liked best."

Fajer-Smith now collaborates with many of the same political science professors who taught her-Harold Levy, Stephen Boyan and others. "I find it very rewarding," she says.

"I think that when other alums see what's going on at UMBC today and what it's become," says Fajer-Smith, "they can't help but get involved."

Denise Elizabeth Lee is an editor with the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.