For more than 40 years, Bernard Smalley, Sr. has devoted his legal career to advocating on behalf of victims of corporate or professional negligence. He has secured for his client’s scores of seven-figure recoveries through his combination of intellect, perceptiveness, and warmth.
As a young man, Mr. Smalley cut hair in his father’s West Philadelphia barber shop where he met William H. Hastie, the first African-American to become Chief Judge of a Federal Court of Appeals in the United States. It was then that Chief Judge Hastie planted the seed, along with Ronald Davenport, later Dean of Duquesne Law School, Pat Swygert later of Temple Law School and President of Howard University, and Judge Harvey N. Schmidt, to launch a career of serving his community by being an attorney.
Later, as a Deputy Court Administrator in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Bernie was privileged to work for and be influenced by Judge Stanley M. Greenberg. It was while working for Judge Greenberg that Bernie saw for the first time the work of a true trial lawyer fighting for his client, Arthur G. Raynes.
A well-recognized and accomplished trial attorney, Mr. Smalley is a Fellow of both the prestigious International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers.
He has been selected to the Philadelphia Super Lawyers list every year since 2004 and has frequently been selected by his peers to be named as one of the Top 100 lawyers in Philadelphia as well as one of the Top 100 lawyers in Pennsylvania. He has frequently lectured on trial techniques before national, state, and local trial lawyer and bar associations.
Mr. Smalley served as president of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association and received its Justice Michael A. Musmanno Award. Mr. Smalley has also received the President’s Award from The Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, the Soaring Eagle Award from the Minority Caucus of the American Association of Justice (formerly ATLA), and the Pursuit of Justice Award from the American Bar Association, as well as the Justice Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence.
He is a member of the National Bar Association, and the Barristers’ Association and has been consistently named Most Influential by the Philadelphia Tribune Newspaper. Smalley sat as Chair of Hearing Committee 1.14 for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board and was a standing member of The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Evidence Committee.
In 2014, Smalley received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer.
Bernard Smalley was elected by the Judges of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to a lifetime appointment to the Board of Directors of City Trusts. In January 2021, he was unanimously elected President of the Board of Directors, becoming the first African American to hold this position in the Board’s 153-year history. In 2025, he transitioned to the role of President Emeritus of the Board of Directors of City Trusts. He also serves on the Board of the Ellis Trust and the Chairman’s Council of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Additionally, he is a former Board Member of the Philadelphia Zoo and has served on the Board of The Philadelphia Tribune Newspaper since 2019.
Smalley received his bachelor’s degree from Temple University in 1971 and his law degree from Widener University School of Law in 1980. He and his wife, Jacquelyn, live in West Philadelphia where they both grew up.
AFFILIATIONS
EDUCATION
