Phil Cardinale and Pete Marino Elected Fellows of the American Bar Foundation

Smith Anderson partners Phil Cardinale and Pete Marino have been elected Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, a global honorary organization recognizing attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership in the legal profession.

Membership in the Fellows is limited, with state membership capped at 1% of lawyers licensed in each jurisdiction – or approximately 350 lawyers in North Carolina. Nominees are recommended by their peers and elected based on their professional accomplishments and commitment to advancing the legal profession.

Phil leads Smith Anderson’s Intellectual Property practice and advises companies on technology transactions, brand strategy, trademarks, copyright, intellectual property disputes, and the development and commercialization of intellectual property. He has served since 2023 as an appointee of the Governor of North Carolina on the state’s Board of Science, Technology & Innovation and is also an American Bar Association liaison to the World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. Phil has chaired numerous ABA copyright and trademark committees, received the ABA Intellectual Property Law Section’s Outstanding Leadership Award. He is also recognized by Chambers USA and The Best Lawyers in America® for Intellectual Property.

Pete co-leads Smith Anderson’s Real Estate Development team and Construction and Infrastructure practice and has practiced construction and public infrastructure law for more than 30 years. He has served as lead counsel on some of the Southeast’s most significant public and private projects, including North Carolina’s first Interstate toll road, its largest single-award design-build highway project, its first and second light rail projects, major international airport projects, and a LEED-certified world headquarters campus for a Fortune 500 company. Pete has also advised on projects throughout the United States and internationally. A longtime leader in the construction bar, he serves on the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Construction Law, an organization of more than 6,000 construction lawyers, and has chaired the North Carolina Bar Association’s Construction Law Section. Pete is a Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America, and his numerous honors include recognition by Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America®, Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite, and North Carolina Super Lawyers.

Smith Anderson has 13 ABF Fellows among its current attorneys. Phil and Pete join Jim Dorsett, John Jernigan, Rose Kenyon, Byron Kirkland, Kim Korando, Caryn McNeill, Henry Mitchell, Carl Patterson, Susan Parrott, Gerald Roach, and Kirk Warner as recipients of this honor.