Danny's Bio
Danny Smith is a seasoned Capitol Hill veteran with 15 years of experience in law and public policy in Washington, DC, including a decade in the United States Senate. At Cornerstone, Danny advises clients across a broad range of legislative and policy matters, with particular depth in artificial intelligence, congressional oversight and investigations and antitrust issues surrounding high-profile mergers and acquisitions. Before joining Cornerstone as a Principal, Danny served as Chief of Staff to Senator George Helmy (D-NJ). In that capacity, he was Senator Helmy’s most senior policy, political and communications advisor.Between his two tours in the Senate, Danny worked at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as Of Counsel, where he was a senior member of the Public Policy and Congressional Investigations Practice Groups. At Gibson Dunn, Danny advised Fortune 500 companies on congressional outreach strategy and Senate procedure. He also worked on numerous congressional investigations matters where he prepared C-suite executives to testify before congressional committees.
Prior to Gibson Dunn, Danny spent nearly a decade advising Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), serving in a variety of capacities—most recently as his Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism. In this role, Danny managed Senator Booker’s Judiciary team and devised and executed committee strategy. He was also Senator Booker’s top advisor on all antitrust, civil rights, criminal justice, drug policy, homeland security, immigration, intellectual property, oversight, privacy rights and technology issues.
Danny earned his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Washington, DC, with their two sons, Murphy and Patrick.