Howard L. Smith was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on March 29, 1861, the son of John Yates Smith and Sarah Ann (Warner) Smith. He received his A.B. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1881, and his L.L.B. degree in 1885. He also studied at the University of Heidelberg in 1883, and at the University of Paris in 1884.
Mr. Smith was a practising attorney in Madison, 1885-1887, in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1887-1893, and in Chicago, Illinois, 1893—1900. He became a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin in 1900. In 1914, he became a Jackson Professor of Law, also at the University, a position he held until he became an emeritus professor in 1927. Mr. Smith wrote a law text, Cases on Bills and Notes, in 1910. In 1918 and 1919, he was in Ecuador and Columbia as a special assistant to the United States Department of State.
Professor Smith died on January 22, 1941.
