Rosalyn Woodson Frierson-Smith, a native of Columbia, S.C., is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, School of Law and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina.  She was appointed Director of South Carolina Court Administration by the South Carolina Supreme Court, serving from 1998 until June, 2017, having previously served as a S.C. Supreme Court Staff Attorney, Law Clerk to former Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney, Jr. and Research/Budget Analyst for the Ways and Means Committee of the S.C. House of Representatives. She also served as a substitute Municipal Court Judge for the City of Columbia.  On February 1, 2017, she was elected by the S. C. General Assembly to the Family Court Bench.

She is a member of the S.C. Bar Association, American Bar Association, Richland County Bar Association, S.C. Black Lawyers Association and S. C. Women Lawyers Association, having served as President of SCWLA in 2007.  She formerly served on the House of Delegates for both the S.C. Bar Association and American Bar Association.  She served as President of the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) and Vice-Chair of the National Center for State Courts in 2011. 

Judge Frierson-Smith received the Richland County Bar Association Civic Star Award in 2002.  In 2014 she was inducted into the National Center for State Courts Warren E. Burger Society and in 2015 was selected as a South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Leadership in Law Honoree.  She was selected as a recipient of the 2016 Gold Compleat Lawyer Award given by the USC School of Law Alumni Council. She was the 2017 COSCA Kenneth R. Palmer Distinguished Service Award recipient.

Judge Frierson Smith currently is a member of the Commission on Judicial Conduct, Family Court Bench Bar Committee, S.C. Children’s Justice Act Task Force, Supreme Court Committee on Private Guardian ad Litem Issues and Pro Bono Board of the South Carolina Bar.