Representative Experience
For the past 26 years, as an attorney, industry association leader and telecommunications company executive, Jim Smith has been a nationally recognized leader in telecommunications law and policy.

Prior to joining Davis Wright in 2002, he held the position of Vice President, Law and Public Policy of Excel Communications, Inc., the fifth largest long distance telecommunications company in North America, with approximately two million customers. Jim headed Excel’s Washington public policy office, supervised the company’s Regulatory Affairs department, and served as the company’s chief public policy spokesman and strategist.

From 1990 until 1997, Jim was President of the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel), the national industry association of competitive telecommunications companies. He frequently represented the competitive telecommunications industry before Congress and as an author, speaker, and commentator. Prior to his tenure at CompTel, Jim was a partner in the Washington law firms Reed Smith Shaw & McClay and Pierson, Ball & Dowd, where he represented domestic and foreign telecommunications carriers and manufacturers, television and cable program producers and studios, and broadcast, journalistic and telecom industry associations.

Prior Experience
Vice President, Law and Public Policy Excel Communications, Inc.

President, Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel)

Partner, Reed Smith Shaw and McClay (formerly Pierson, Ball & Dowd)

Memberships and Activities
Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel), 1999-2002

Board of Directors, California Competitive Telecommunications Association (CALTEL), 1998-2001

Listed in Who’s Who In American Law

Member, District of Columbia Bar; Bar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; American Bar Association

Federal Communications Bar Association (past officer and member of Executive Committee)

President, Better Sports Club of Arlington (Virginia)

Education
J.D., cum laude, Georgetown University Law Center

• Editor, American Criminal Law Review