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Brian N. Smiley
 Brian Smiley is a partner in the firm of Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP. Mr. Smiley was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in
Atlanta. He attended Emory College, where he was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa
and from which he graduated with highest honors in 1975. Following graduation,
he attended Emory University School of Law, where he served on the Board of Editors
of the Emory Law Journal and was initiated into the Order of the Coif.
Upon graduation
(with distinction) in 1978, Mr. Smiley received an appointment as a Trial Attorney
in the United States Department of Justice. While at the Justice Department, Mr.
Smiley acted as counsel for the United States in numerous cases which were deemed
by the Attorney General to be of unusual importance to the federal government,
including Nixon v. United States, various constitutional cases and litigation
involving the NATO treaty.
In 1981, Mr. Smiley
returned to Atlanta from Washington, and entered into the private practice of
law. As a litigator, Mr. Smiley has handled constitutional and civil rights suits,
products liability claims, personal injury litigation, commercial controversies,
shareholders' derivative suits, fidelity bond and RICO suits, and securities litigation
and arbitration. For the past several years, Mr. Smiley has concentrated in the
securities field, primarily representing investors and others in arbitrations
conducted before the New York Stock Exchange and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Mr. Smiley has
conducted arbitrator training sessions and serves as an arbitrator for the National
Association of Securities Dealers. He is the author of numerous articles including:
"Stockbroker-Customer Disputes-Making a Case for Arbitration," (Georgia
State Bar Journal, May 1987); "Spotting Common Forms of Stockbroker Misconduct"
(The Verdict, Jan.- Feb. 1991); "The Law and Ethics of Witness Preparation"
(Practising Law Institute, 1998); and "Breaking the Nest Egg: Using Traditional Theories to
Handle New Cases" (Practicing Law Instutute, 2007). He has spoken at seminars sponsored by the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, the Practising Law Institute, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the Georgia Institute For Continuing Legal Education. Mr. Smiley has been quoted
on securities matters in the national press. For more than ten years, Mr. Smiley
has served on the faculty of the Emory University School of Law Trial Techniques
Program, at which lawyers and judges instruct law students in trial practice.
Mr. Smiley is a
frequent lecturer on the topics of stockbroker misconduct, the handling of litigation
and arbitration involving stockbrokers, and legal ethics. He has testified as
an expert at special hearings about the "penny stock" industry conducted
by the Secretary of State of Georgia. Mr. Smiley testified before the United States
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Securities Subcommittee,
on the topics of securities fraud and securities industry arbitration.
In 2002, Mr. Smiley
was appointed to the National Arbitration and Mediation Committee (NAMC). The
13 members of the NAMC advise the Board of Directors of the FINRA (previously known as NASD), which is the
world’s largest forum for handling arbitration and mediation of disputes between
clients and brokerage firms. The NAMC is actively involved in the drafting of
arbitration rules and the recruitment, training and evaluation of arbitrators.
Mr. Smiley has served as Chairman of the Rules & Procedures Subcommittee.
In 2007, Mr. Smiley was selected Vice President/President Elect of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association. PIABA, founded in 1990, is an international bar association of approximately 500 attorneys which is dedicated to promoting the interests of investors who are subject to mandatory arbitration of disputes against securities brokerage firms. Mr. Smiley is also a director of PIABA.
Mr. Smiley is a
member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta Bar Association (Litigation and
ADR Sections), and a member and director of the Sandy Springs Bar Association and the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association.
Mr. Smiley is married
to the former Linda Rosen of Jackson, Mississippi. He and his wife have a son,
Richard, and a daughter, Hilary.
E-mail Brian Smiley
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