Brinkley Elected to American Law Institute

Martin H. Brinkley, a partner with Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, has been elected to the American Law Institute (ALI), one of the nation’s premier legal organizations.

Founded in 1923 and based in Philadelphia, the American Law Institute drafts and publishes restatements of the law, the Uniform Commercial Code (in collaboration with the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws), model codes, and other proposals for legal reform to clarify and simplify the application of the law to society. The influence of the ALI’s work is widespread, and many ALI publications have been accorded an authority exceeding that of any other legal treatise, as evidenced by more than 130,000 published court decisions citing the Restatements of the Law and more than 37,000 judicial opinions citing the Uniform Commercial Code.

ALI members are selected on the basis of a record of professional achievement and demonstrated interest in improving the law. Its membership, limited to 3,000, consists of federal and state judges, lawyers, and law professors. The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, chief judges of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and chief justices of the state supreme courts are ex-officio members, as are deans of law schools that are members of the Association of American Law Schools. The Institute’s incorporators included Chief Justice and former President William Howard Taft, future Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, and former Secretary of State Elihu Root. Judges Benjamin N. Cardozo and Learned Hand were among its early leaders.

At Smith Anderson, Mr. Brinkley practices in the areas of commercial and corporate law. As an ALI member, Mr. Brinkley will participate regularly in the work of the Institute, which will include serving as a Reporter, Adviser, or Consultant on ALI projects and serving on Members Consultative Groups.