Asher Smith

Asher Smith is the Litigation Program Director for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, where he oversees the organization’s team pursuing strategic impact lawsuits that enforce and expand protections for animals and their advocates under the law.

Asher joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund in 2026 after more than eight years at the PETA Foundation. He held progressive litigation leadership roles at the PETA Foundation, directing the organization’s litigation division as general counsel for litigation and managing a docket of both affirmative and defensive matters.

Asher’s victories as lead counsel have included actions under the Endangered Species Act against roadside zoos–including cases that helped run out of business, and set novel precedents against, multiple exhibitors featured on the Netflix series Tiger King; constitutional lawsuits representing both animals and their advocates resulting in trial court and appellate victories; and false advertising claims challenging the deceptive marketing of some of the country’s most prominent animal-derived products as “humane.”

Asher was named a 2023 American Bar Association On the Rise—Top 40 Young Lawyers awardee. He is admitted to practice law in New York and is a member of the New York City Bar Animal Law Committee. Before transitioning to animal law, he worked for the global law firm Paul, Weiss on matters such as multibillion-dollar securities and antitrust litigation, pro bono eviction defense, and litigation in the deep south and at the Supreme Court for gay rights. He graduated from Yale Law School in 2014 and is based in New York City.

See bar admissions of our attorneys.