Brayanna J. Smith

Bray advocates in federal and state courts on behalf of clients in cases involving complex commercial disputes and regulatory compliance matters across a broad array of sectors. Bray primarily represents clients in the agriculture, aggregate, education and waste industries, vigorously litigating on their behalf at every stage of the proceeding. Bray also focuses her practice on representing individual property owners and developers in various administrative and regulatory proceedings, as well as in contentious land use, zoning, environmental and constitutional disputes against local governments, regulatory bodies and competitors. Bray’s experience spans across all manners of administrative and judicial proceedings, including court trials, appeals, contested case hearings and state and local governmental board proceedings.

Prior to joining Taft, Bray’s practice focused on defective pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices and medical malpractice actions.

Bray received her J.D. from Baylor University School of Law in general litigation. Bray earned her bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in anthropology, with a concentration in forensic sciences. While at Baylor, she competed as a NCEA Division One equestrian athlete.

• Obtained dismissal of a threatened $18 million lawsuit involving the Clean Water Act and alleged improper wastewater discharges from a peat mine.
• Reversed a city’s unilateral changes to the terms of a long-standing planned unit development agreement.
• Obtained several mandamus orders to compel cities to comply with their official duties with respect to land use and zoning requests, including under Minn. Stat. § 15.99’s 60-day rule.
• Successfully compelled a township to apply its comprehensive plan requirements to a pending land use request.