Melissa A. Smart is Litigation Group Manager and Senior Counsel at the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois (ARDC) where she supervises a group of litigation attorneys and staff, investigates charges of lawyer misconduct and prosecutes disciplinary cases. Ms. Smartobtained her B.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her law degree from The John Marshall law school, graduating cum laude. Ms. Smart began working at the ARDC as a law clerk in 1997 and became Counsel for the Administrator in 1999. As a member of the Commission’s staff for over fifteen years, she has investigated thousands of charges of professional misconduct and has been responsible for over 100different formal disciplinary proceedings filed in the Supreme Court of Illinois or before various Commission Boards. She has tried dozens of matters before the commission Hearing Board.