Brent W Smith

Of Counsel

Education

  • University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., 1976)
  • University of California at Los Angeles (J.D., 1979)

Bar admissions

  • California, 1979
  • U.S. District Courts, 1979

Brent W. Smith is one of the senior partners of the law firm, having joined in 1981. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles for both undergraduate and law school, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts Degree in history, summa cum laude, in 1976. He obtained his Juris Doctorate in 1979.

The focus of Mr. Smith’s legal practice is automobile dealer law, advertising law, business purchases and sales, association and commercial law, and general civil law. He supervises the firm’s advertising review program for automobile dealerships and has been involved in numerous buy-sell agreements involving automobile dealerships throughout the State of California. In addition to representing many California new car dealers, Mr. Smith has provided legal services to various dealer associations and he is counsel for the Ford Dealers Advertising Association of Southern California.

Mr. Smith is a major contributor to the California New Car Dealers Association Dealer Management GuideCalifornia Auto Dealer Advertising Law Manual , and the California New Car Dealers F & I Compliance Manual which are three extensive publications published by the California New Car Dealers Association. He contributes to the California New Car Dealers Association's monthly bulletin newsletter and has also been a presenter at numerous legal compliance seminars for dealers sponsored by that Association covering a wide range of topics including advertising law, finance and insurance, privacy-safeguards, FTC Red Flags Rule, California’s Car Buyer’s Bill of Rights, and social media and electronic marketing.

Mr. Smith is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the National Association of DealerCounsel (NADC),and participates in a variety of community activities and organizations in the San Gabriel Valley where he resides with his family.

California Auto Dealer Finance and Insurance Compliance Manual

Published 2023-01-04

We have authored the widely used California Auto Dealer Finance and Insurance Compliance Manual which includes the Reynolds and Reynolds California F & I libary of forms with detailed explanations of how to use them. This publication is a valuable tool in training F & I personnel and in complying with the numerous intricacies of California law in the vehicle sale and leasing process. 

California Auto Dealer Finance and Insurance Compliance Manual Download table of contents

Dealership Operations Guide

Published 2020-12-31

Our firm is the author of the California New Car Dealers Association Dealership Operations Guide, an extensive and detailed guide for dealers which is distributed by CNCDA to its members. The Guide, which is regularly updated, contains an in-depth discussion of the many laws and regulations applicable to California automobile dealers, and is widely used throughout California. See the link below to view the table of contents for this publication.

Dealership Operations Guide Download table of contents

Federal Advertising Requirements

Published 2017-06-15

The is a manual created by Manning, Leaver, Bruder & Berberich for the National Association of Automobile Dealer. The manual focuses on federal law advertising requirements.

Federal Advertising Requirements

Manning Leaver is author of advertising law manual produced by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA)

Posted on

Manning Leaver Partner Brent Smith attended the 2015 NADA Convention and Expo in San Francisco. In connection with that event, NADA announced the release of its latest compliance publication entitled “A Dealer Guide to Federal Advertising Requirements.” This publication was prepared for NADA by Manning Leaver and authored by partner Brent Smith. Click news item link above to see the manual.