Press Release
September 4, 2012

James D. Smeallie Takes Office as President of Boston Bar Association

BOSTON – September 4, 2012 – Holland & Knight partner James D. "J.D." Smeallie took office for a one-year term as president of the Boston Bar Association (BBA) on September 1.

"It is truly an honor to lead an organization with such a long and distinguished history as the Boston Bar Association," said Mr. Smeallie. "From its founding in the late 1700s until today, the BBA and its members have been instrumental in setting the standards of excellence for the legal profession not only in Boston, but also across the country."    

At Holland & Knight, Mr. Smeallie concentrates his practice in business litigation, with particular emphasis on litigation involving education, employment, professional liability, intellectual property and unfair competition. He has served as executive partner of Holland & Knight's Boston office and as a member of the firm's Directors Committee. He also is a past chair of the firm's Education Team. 

Mr. Smeallie is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and Boston Bar Foundation, as well as past commissioner of the American Bar Association's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. He previously has served as the BBA's president-elect (2011-2012), vice president (2010-2011) and secretary (2008-2009).

The BBA is a non-profit voluntary membership organization of 10,000 attorneys drawn from private practice, corporations, government agencies, legal aid organizations, the courts and law schools. It traces its origins to meetings convened by John Adams, the lawyer who provided pro bono representation to the British soldiers prosecuted for the Boston Massacre and went on to become the second president of the United States.

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