Erin Smith serves as Associate Counsel at First Liberty Institute.

Before joining First Liberty, Erin served as Assistant General Counsel for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She also served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Unit.

Erin graduated summa cum laude from the Oklahoma City University School of Law, where she was recognized as the J. William Conger Distinguished Student for the Class of 2022 and received the T. Hurley Jordan Award for Excellence in Criminal Procedure. During law school, she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Oklahoma City University Law Review, president of the OKC Student Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and vice president of the OCU Christian Legal Society. She externed for the Solicitor General of Oklahoma, and published her Note, Almost Only Counts in Horseshoes, Hand Grenades … and Hardison? The 45-year Reign Continues, in the Oklahoma City University Law Review. Erin spent her summers interning at First Liberty Institute and the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General.

Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., was for 25 years a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation. He is a public policy analyst specializing in health care, entitlements and energy issues and is the author of numerous public policy studies. He is past president of the Health Economics Roundtable for the National Association for Business Economics, the largest trade association of business economists.

For nine years Dr. Matthews was executive director of the Washington, DC-based Council for Affordable Health Insurance, a health insurance trade association. While he was executive director, National Journal recognized the Council as one of the most effective health policy organizations in Washington.

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