Hand Arendall Harrison Sale Welcomes New Attorneys in Birmingham

Hand Arendall Harrison Sale LLC (HAHS) is happy to announce that Gary Bedsole and Dorissa Smith have joined the firm’s Birmingham office.

Bedsole practices in the fields of taxation and general corporate matters. His practice encompasses a variety of areas, including mergers and acquisitions as well as U.S. federal, state, and local tax matters and tax controversies.

He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 2000 and the New York State Bar in 2001. He received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Alabama in 1995 and 1996, respectively. He obtained a Juris Doctorate from the University of Alabama School of Law, cum laude, in 1999 and an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University in 2000.

Bedsole has more 20 years of experience in tax consulting and tax controversy matters involving large, mid-sized and family-owned domestic and international companies. He began his career with a prestigious New York City law firm, the tax department of which was founded by a prominent corporate tax scholar. He also spent more than 10 years in the mergers and acquisitions tax group of a Big 4 accounting firm and almost 5 years in internal tax counsel roles at a public healthcare company based in Birmingham and a large private media conglomerate based in New York City.

Smith is an associate in the Firm’s litigation section and focuses her practice primarily on insurance claims and coverage litigation. Smith is a 2009 graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree.  In 2013, Smith graduated from The University of Mississippi School of Law, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board and the Trial Advocacy Board.  While in law school, she completed internships with the Mississippi Secretary of State and the Mississippi Supreme Court.  Following law school, Smith also completed clerkships with a Mississippi trial court and the Mississippi Court of Appeals. She later joined private practice as an associate with law firm in Jackson, Mississippi, where she focused her work primarily on insurance defense and personal injury matters. 

Hand Arendall Harrison Sale provides its clients with legal services in all areas of traditional civil practice. We are legal advisors in your business success. The Alabama firm, Hand Arendall, was organized in 1941, and the Florida firm, Harrison Sale McCloy, was organized in 1984. After merging the two firms in 2018 to become Hand Arendall Harrison Sale, the firm is one of the largest law firms in the region with more than 85 attorneys. The firm has a fundamental commitment to creating long-lasting relationships. Cases and projects are staffed with the goal of achieving success for the client with maximum efficiency. With offices in Mobile, Birmingham, Fairhope and Athens, Alabama; and Destin, Panama City, Panama City Beach, and Santa Rosa, Florida, Hand Arendall Harrison Sale is uniquely situated among the Southeast’s major law firms to provide legal direction to clients throughout Alabama, Northwest Florida and Mississippi.