Michael W. Smith Appointed to ACTL Board of Regents
Michael W. Smith has been appointed to the Board of Regents of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The ACTL is an organization of the most experienced trial lawyers in the United States and Canada.
Smith chairs Christian & Barton’s Executive Committee as well as the firm's litigation practice group. As a regent, he will help manage the College’s affairs, have responsibility for a jurisdiction of states and serve as a liaison to a number of general committees during his four-year term. Smith is a former president of both the Bar Association of the City of Richmond and the Virginia State Bar.
Membership in the College is extended only to trial lawyers who have demonstrated a mastery of the “art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality.”
Currently four Christian & Barton attorneys are active ACTL Fellows. In addition to Smith they include R. Harvey Chappell Jr., who served as ACTL president from 1986-1987, W. David Harless and Craig T. Merritt. However, the firm’s connection to the ACTL spans decades as deceased partners A.C. Epps and Alexander Wellford were also Fellows.
Smith was installed as a regent at the ACTL Annual Meeting in Boston Oct. 10, 2009. Click here to read a copy of the ACTL press release. (November 2009)