But first, what's up with those shoes?
Fifty pairs of size 11's in her office cupboard, with 150 more pairs at home. Enough designer heels, flats, sandals, sneakers and boots to fill Carrie Bradshaw's dream closet in Sex and the City.
Like the ace attorney she is, Smith has a precise explanation for the trove.
"If one were to have the shoes one actually needed as basics, one would indeed have black, brown and navy shoes of varying heel heights, both summer and winter," says Smith, in black Biala slingback peep-toe pumps.
"Then there's dressy versus casual, or day versus night, or weekday versus weekend."
We get it, counselor. It's complicated being in your shoes.
Smith, 43, a Villanova Law School graduate with a penchant for quoting Fred Flintstone, commands a $60 million-a-year department that includes 152 lawyers and 173 support staff.
The reach of her office, which represents the mayor, City Council and all city departments in civil matters, cannot be overstated, says David L. Cohen, chief of staff under Mayor Ed Rendell.
"There's not an important, substantive issue in city government that doesn't pass by or run through the City Solicitor's Office."
No objection there. At any one time, the law department has 30,000 open cases.
The latest, filed Monday following a scathing grand jury report on the starvation death of teen Danieal Kelly, claims the city's Department of Human Services is failing to protect some 28,000 at-risk children.
Smith's other headline cases represent the Holy Trinity of hot-button issues. Or, as she puts it, "God, guns and gambling."
Radioactive cases are nothing new for Smith. She put in 13 years under seven city solicitors before leaving for private practice in 2005. Certain cases can advance what she calls the city's "parameters of principle."
The Boy Scouts action, for one, underscores the city's commitment to equality regardless of sexual orientation, she says.
Because the local council has refused to change its policy barring gays (and atheists), City Council voted to evict it from its free, city-owned headquarters as of last May 31 unless it paid $200,000 annual rent.
The Scout council filed a complaint in federal court, alleging the city had violated its First Amendment rights. Both sides have asked for a delay in the eviction case until the federal suit is resolved.
"To me, the Boy Scouts are not sacred," Smith says. The eviction "is not about their value to the community. It's about discriminatory behavior by people who get a benefit from the city."
Smith is not afraid to take aim at the National Rifle Association, either.
When the city enacted five gun-control measures in April, the NRA sued in Common Pleas Court. The judge ruled that Philadelphia could not enforce two of the five. Both sides have appealed.
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