Nossaman Adds Market Leading Public Pensions Attorney Emily Smith to Pensions, Benefits & Investments Group
San Francisco, CA & Phoenix, AZ — We are pleased to announce Emily Smith has joined our Pensions, Benefits & Investments Group. Emily will serve as partner in the Phoenix office. She joins from Kutak Rock.
On a daily basis, Emily represents public pension plans and other institutional investors in connection with domestic and offshore private equity, hedge fund and alternative investment transactions. In addition, she concentrates a significant portion of her practice in asset-backed securitizations, municipal finance transactions and other structured finance transactions in the primary and secondary markets.
“Emily has extensive experience representing public pension systems and other institutional investors in connection with their public markets and private fund investments,” said Yuliya Oryol, co-chair of the Pensions, Benefits & Investments Group. “We are excited she is joining.”
“Emily is a fantastic addition to our team,” added Ashley Dunning, co-chair of the Pensions, Benefits & Investments Group. “Her skillset and depth of experience negotiating deals on behalf of institutional investors will allow her to hit the ground running at Nossaman.”
Nossaman’s Pensions, Benefits & Investments Group works alongside the people entrusted to administer and protect the pension, health and welfare benefits of employees in their plans. The practice leverages decades of experience in the public retirement plan sector–along with the private and non-profit sectors–to offer thoughtful, independent advice on the legal and business issues affecting plans and their members. The accomplished team provides comprehensive legal services to pension, health and welfare benefit plans, as well as other institutional investors, throughout the United States. Clients turn to us for fiduciary, governance, administration, investments and benefits counsel. When disputes arise, the Group represent funds and their boards in litigation. In addition to Emily, in March of 2023 the Group added Michelle McCarthy as a partner in the Los Angeles office, and in April of 2024 the group added Michelle Mellon-Werch as partner in the Austin, Texas office and Don Meaders as partner in Los Angeles.
Commenting on her move to Nossaman, Emily said, “I am looking forward to helping the firm grow its Pensions, Benefits & Investments Group and its presence in Arizona, as well as providing clients with world-class counsel in the public pensions space.”
Emily holds a J.D from Creighton University School of Law and a B.S. and B.A. from Nebraska Wesleyan University. She is a member of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys, the Arizona Bar Association and the Texas Bar Association and was a part of the ILPA LPA Task Force. She is licensed to practice in Arizona and Texas.
