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2010 News Articles › Martin Brinkley Named NCBA President-Elect
Martin Brinkley Named NCBA President-Elect
Article Date: Saturday, June 26, 2010
Martin H. Brinkley of Raleigh was elected president-elect of the North Carolina Bar Association at the 2010 NCBA Annual Meeting in Wilmington. He will serve as the 117th president of the NCBA in 2011-12.
Formal election of Brinkley, a partner at Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, took place June 26 at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside. His name was placed in nomination by Charles Becton, immediate past president of the NCBA and chair of the Past Presidents’ Council, which selected Brinkley.
Seconding speeches were given by Brinkley’s longtime law partner Steve Mason and former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Willis Whichard.
Then, in keeping with the NCBA’s longstanding custom, the past presidents in attendance ushered Brinkley to the stage for a brief acceptance address following his election.
Brinkley’s election extends a rich tradition of service to the profession that Smith Anderson lawyers have carried out for decades. Brinkley will be the firm’s fourth partner to serve as president of the NCBA, following Willis Smith (1941-42), James K. Dorsett, Jr. (1959-60), and John L. Jernigan (1999-2000). The firm will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012.
“Our firm’s lawyers, past and present, have had a deep and abiding commitment to the ideal of the law as a noble calling, and to the Bar Association which gives life to that ideal. That commitment means everything to me,” Brinkley stated. “It is something I think about when I get up in the morning and tie my tie. I think about it when I work with clients. It has a lifting power. It reminds me of what I am here to do.
“To be chosen to lead our Bar Association is a tremendous honor, a vast privilege and a great responsibility, all of which I feel keenly. I will do everything in my power to deserve the trust the past presidents and members have given into my hands.”
Upon his installation next year at the age of 44, Brinkley will become the youngest attorney elected to a full term as president of the NCBA in more than 50 years. He is exceeded in that regard only by Smith Anderson partner James K. Dorsett, Jr. (1916-2001).
A Wake County native, Brinkley attended public schools and Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H. He received an A.B. degree in classics summa cum laude from Harvard University, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was Latin Orator at Harvard’s 336th Commencement Exercises.
Brinkley received his J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he was executive articles editor of the North Carolina Law Review. After law school he served as law clerk to Chief Judge Sam J. Ervin, III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Brinkley practices in the areas of corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, antitrust and trade regulation, public finance and appellate litigation. He represents corporate clients in the distribution, life science, energy and manufacturing industries. Brinkley is a member of Smith Anderson’s Policy and Planning Committee, chairs the Firm’s Legal Opinions Committee and co-chairs its Associates Development Committee.
He is a member of the American Law Institute and the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference, and has been an adjunct professor at the UNC School of Law. Brinkley maintains an active pro bono practice, representing individual clients in public housing, landlord-tenant, termination of parental rights and criminal cases and counseling a wide range of religious, educational and other charitable organizations.
Brinkley has been actively involved in NCBA activities throughout the 18 years he has practiced law. He served as chair of the Young Lawyers Division in 1998-99 and as a member of the NCBA Board of Governors in 2000-03. He chaired the Strategic Planning and Emerging Trends Committee during its development of the Momentum 2010 strategic plan, and co-chaired the initial 4ALL Campaign in 2007-08 with fellow Smith Anderson partner Caryn McNeill.
The 4ALL Campaign was recognized in 2009 by the American Bar Association as the recipient of the Harrison Tweed Award, which is presented annually to state and local bar projects that improve access to legal services for indigent citizens.
Brinkley has been heavily involved in community and civic organizations in the Research Triangle area and statewide. He is a former Senior Warden of Raleigh’s Christ Episcopal Church and is currently serving his second term on the Vestry. He has been a delegate from Christ Church to nine annual conventions of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and is now Vice Chancellor and a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese.
Brinkley has served on the boards of more than a dozen civic and cultural organizations in the Raleigh area, most recently the Board of Commissioners of the Wake County Public Library System. He is secretary-treasurer of the North Caroliniana Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history and cultural heritage of North Carolina.
In 2008 he was honored as a recipient of the NCBA’s Citizen Lawyer Award.
Brinkley and his wife Carol, a teacher of hearing impaired students at Frances Lacy Elementary School in Raleigh, have three children: Eliza (17) and Caroline (15), both students at Saint Mary’s School; and Sam (9), a fifth grader.