Nancy C. Smith

Helping to ease commutes for urban residents around the nation, Smith has served as public agency counsel on a number of large national public transportation projects.

In the past year, Smith was co-lead for the legal team advising the approximately $5.6 billion Purple Line Light Rail project, which connects Maryland suburbs to Washington, D.C. In Los Angeles, she's been the principal in charge of Nossaman's general counsel work for the Metro Gold Line Authority since 2000. She recently played a key role in the $500 million Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Project, which last year opened its 11-mile, six-station Azusa extension in the San Gabriel Valley.

Smith, who co-founded Nossaman's infrastructure practice group, said she's seen a substantial shift in the way Los Angeles area residents commute in recent years.

"People here used to want to drive," she said. "Your car was a way that you could control what you were doing, but I think a couple of things have happened. One, the traffic has just gotten to the point that by driving yourself, you are not in control. You're stuck in traffic instead. The other thing that's happening is we have a lot of people coming into the workforce who are very concerned about the environment, and they would prefer not to contribute to the pollution."

Smith, who plays the violin, sits on the board of Education Through Music Los Angeles, an organization helping to provide funds to more than 20 area schools to return music to the curriculum.

"I think it's incredibly important for kids to have the opportunity to play music," she said. "And it's very sad that the education system has given short shrift to music education."

— Shane Nelson