Dr. Smitha Nizar is an Associate Dean and Professor of Galgotias University School of Law. She is the Founder and Head of the Disability Rights Clinic, Galgotias University. Prior to this, she was pursuing her Fulbright Postdoctoral Research and teaching in Disability Law at Syracuse University, New York, USA. She was a NET- JRF qualified research scholar at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. Prior to entering academics, she was a practicing lawyer at the High Court of Kerala. She was appointed as an Amicus Curie in Shobha Gopala Krishnan Vs. State of Kerala and others. (2019(1) KLT 80) to report the applicability of Disability law for other vulnerable groups.

She is a pioneer in the disability law field and her book The Contradiction in Disability Law: Selective Abortions and Rights Published by Oxford University Press in 2016 is the first in the world on the topic of Disability Selective Abortion. She was teaching law at Shasthra University Thanjavur, Alliance University Bangalore, NIT Calicut and School of Legal Thoughts, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala. She was a working committee group member of the Drafting Committee appointed by the Indian Parliament to draft the new Disability Law. She has also worked on a Disability project with Harvard University School of Law, which has been published by Oxford University Press in the year of 2018.

She is a designated Expert Member of the Kerala State Advisory Board on Disability nominated by the Govt. of Kerala.