William M. Smiland

E-mail: WSmiland@Smilandlaw.com

William M. Smiland has practiced law with Smiland & Khachigian and its predecessors for 26 years, securing positive results for clients in both public and private cases and transactions.

Mr. Smiland's private litigation successes include handling inter- national warranty lawsuits and arbitrations on behalf of an aerospace component supplier, resulting in the recovery of multimillion-dollar awards; defending cotton merchants under antitrust laws and securities underwriters under securities laws in major class actions; recovering substantial arbitration awards for a construction firm against public entity owners; defending numerous lawsuits brought against stock brokerage firms; and arguing corporate law issues on behalf of a major bank, resulting in an important appellate precedent.

In the area of private transactions, Mr. Smiland has represented the resulting corporation in a merger of major agribusiness concerns; an auto rental and leasing company in the initial public offering of its shares; a manufacturer in the acquisitions of several competitors; and numerous buyers and sellers of industrial and agricultural properties.

Mr. Smiland is also one of California's most experienced practitioners in the area of environmental regulation and natural resource use. Public law cases he has handled in the water area include obtaining a landmark judgment on behalf of farmers against the federal government and a local water district with resulting benefits valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars; acting as co-counsel in litigation challenging unlawful irrigation water reallocations attempted under fish and wildlife statutes; and securing judgment under a federal statute obligating the government to drain farmlands of saline water.

Litigation Mr. Smiland has handled in the field of air quality includes winning three judgments - including one affirmed in a landmark appellate decision - on behalf of the California paint industry invalidating air quality regulations for their failure to analyze the regulations' adverse environmental impact. He has also represented several trade associations in successful efforts to block various economically and environmentally problematic air quality regulations.

Between 1985 and 1987, Mr. Smiland served as the Governor's appointee to the governing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District and chaired its Small Business Committee. He and his brother co-own Smiland Paint Company, a manufacturing firm headquartered in Los Angeles.

Mr. Smiland received his undergraduate degree in political science from Stanford University, and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall).