Smith Anderson Partner Martin Brinkley to Lead University of North Carolina School of Law

Raleigh, N.C. – Smith Anderson is pleased to announce that Martin H. Brinkley, a partner in the Firm, has been appointed Dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law effective July 1.  UNC Chancellor Carol L. Folt and Provost James W. Dean, Jr. announced the appointment today (see UNC press release). Brinkley succeeds retiring Dean John Charles “Jack” Boger and will remain associated with Smith Anderson as Of Counsel while serving the University and the Law School. 

Carl Patterson, the Firm’s Managing Partner said, “We are excited for Martin and absolutely confident that he will perform his new duties as Dean of the Law School with the same drive, expertise, and sensitivity that has made him one of the most sought-after lawyers in North Carolina. We are also pleased that during his tenure Martin will be able to continue an active role in our firm.”

Brinkley comes to the deanship after twenty-two years in private practice. His primary experience has been in the fields of corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, antitrust, insurance, public finance and charitable organizations law. He has been lead outside counsel to companies and institutions in the manufacturing, distribution, food and beverage, and insurance industries and has led Smith Anderson’s Regulatory and Government Affairs Team. He is recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers, Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in America, North Carolina Super Lawyers, Business North Carolina’s “Legal Elite,” and International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, in the fields of corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, and nonprofit organizations law. He taught lawyers’ ethics as an adjunct professor at the Law School from 1996 to 2001.

A native of Wake County, N.C., Brinkley is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University (A.B. 1987, Classics, summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa) and the University of North Carolina School of Law (J.D., 1992).  At UNC he was Executive Articles Editor of the North Carolina Law Review. He served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Sam J. Ervin, III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit during the court’s 1992-93 term. In 2011-12 Brinkley was President of the North Carolina Bar Association, the youngest lawyer in more than fifty years to lead the nation’s premier state bar association. He is a recipient of the Bar Association’s Citizen Lawyer Award, UNC Law School’s Pro Bono Alumnus of the Year Award, and other awards recognizing his pro bono service to individuals and charitable institutions.  

Brinkley has served on the boards of or acted as pro bono counsel to more than 30 nonprofit organizations with charitable, religious, artistic and educational missions. He is currently a trustee of the North Carolina Symphony, the North Caroliniana Society, Saint Mary’s School, the Philharmonic Association and the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute. He is Vice Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and a former Senior and Junior Warden and Vestry member at Christ Church in Raleigh. He is married to the former Carol E. Scovil, a public school teacher and 1986 graduate of UNC’s School of Journalism. The Brinkleys have three children.

Founded in 1845, the Law School is part of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s oldest state-supported university. Its more than 10,000 living alumni include governors, judges, U.S. Senators, congressmen, private practitioners and business leaders. 

About Smith Anderson
Founded in 1912, Smith Anderson has grown to become the largest business and litigation law firm headquartered in the Research Triangle region and one of the largest in North Carolina. We provide a full range of legal services to a diverse and dynamic group of regional, national and international companies. Over one hundred years of practicing law has grounded our Firm's culture, informed our perspective and provided us the insight necessary to help our clients succeed. Over time, our core principles have remained unchanged. We remain personally dedicated to the success, prosperity and betterment of our clients, our friends and the communities we serve.