Professor Robert Smit

Robert Smit

  • Edwin B. Parker Professor of Professional Practice
Education

D.E.A., Universite de Paris I-Sorbonne, 1988
J.D., Columbia Law School, 1986
B.A., Cornell University, 1981

Areas of Study
Areas of Specialty

International Commercial and Investment Treaty Arbitration and Transnational Litigation

Robert H. Smit ’86 is an active practitioner of international commercial and investment treaty arbitrations around the world. He is the director of Columbia Law School’s Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration, and he co-chaired the international arbitration and dispute resolution practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he is a retired litigation partner. Prior to his appointment as professor of professional practice in July 2025, Smit taught courses and seminars on international arbitration and transnational litigation as an adjunct professor at the Law School. Smit also serves regularly as an independent arbitrator in international commercial and investment treaty arbitrations, with a Chambers USA 2024 Band 1 Ranking for Arbitrators Nationwide. 

Smit publishes regularly on arbitration issues and is co-editor-in-chief of The American Review of International Arbitration. He is a member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Arbitration and an adviser to the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Third) of the U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration. He also formerly served as U.S. member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, chair of the New York City Bar Association’s International Commercial Disputes Committee, chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), and vice-chair of the International Bar Association (IBA) Committee on International Arbitration. Smit served as a law clerk to Charles M. Metzner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Publications

  • “Questionable Arbitrator Habits,” 34(3) American Review of International Arbitration 451 (2023)
  • “Why pro-arbitration?” published in Reflections on International Arbitration: Essays in Honour of Professor George Bermann, Chapter 44 (Juris 2022)
  • “The History of 28 U.S.C.1782,” published in Obtaining Evidence for Use in International Tribunals Under Section 28 U.S.C. 1782, 1-22 (Juris 2020)
  • “Cross-Examination in International Arbitration: A Clash Among Common Law Traditions,” 29(2) American Review of International Arbitration 105 (2018)
  • “The Future of Science and Technology In International Arbitration: The Next Thirty Years”, published in The Evolution and Future of International Arbitration, 365 (Kluwer 2016)
  • “Courts and the Constitution of the Arbitral Tribunal: A Comparative Analysis of Standards of Arbitrator Independence and Impartiality,” in Forum Shopping in the International Commercial Arbitration Context, 235 (Sellier European Law Publishers 2013)
  • “Thoughts on Arbitrator Selection: Why My Father Was (Usually) a Good Choice,” 23(3-4) American Review of International Arbitration 575 (2012)
  • “E-Disclosure Under the Revised IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration,” 13(5) International Arbitration Law Review 200 (2010)
  • “Cross Examining Witnesses Before Civil Law Arbitrators,” in Take the Witness: Cross-Examination in International Arbitration, 243 (Juris 2010)
  • “Cost Awards in International Commercial Arbitration: Proposed Guidelines for Promoting Time and Cost Efficiency,” 20(3) American Review of International Arbitration 267 (2010)
  • “E-Disclosure in International Arbitration,” 24(1) Arbitration International 105 (2008)
  • “Towards Greater Efficiency in Document Production Before Arbitral Tribunals-A North American Viewpoint,” in Document Production in International Arbitration, Special Supplement ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin (2006)
  • “Mandatory ICC Arbitration Rules,” in International Law, Commerce and Dispute Resolution, 845 (2005)
  • “Separability and Kompetenz-Kompetenz in International Arbitration: Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit? Can Something Indeed Come From Nothing?,” 13 American Review of International Arbitration 19 (2002)
  • “The Newly Revised CPR Rules for Non-Administered Arbitration of International Disputes”, 18(1) Journal of International Arbitration 59 (2001)
  • “Andersen v. Andersen: The Claimants’ Perspective,” 10(4) American Review of International Arbitration 443 (1999)
  • A Comparison of International Commercial Arbitration Rules (Juris Publishing 1998)
  • “An Inside View of the ICC Court,” 10 Arbitration International 53 (No. 1, 1994)

Professional Experience

  • Independent International Arbitrator
  • Partner and chair, international arbitration practice, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, 1989–2016, retired

Activities and Affiliations

  • Co-editor-in-chief, American Review of International Arbitration, 2012–present
  • Adviser, ALI Restatement (Third) of the U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration Law, 2010–present
  • Founding member, The International Arbitration Club of New York, 2010–present
  • Member, ICC Commission on Arbitration, 2003–present
  • Chair, International Dispute Resolution Committee of the New York City Bar Association, 2007–2010
  • U.S. member of the Court, ICC International Court of Arbitration, 2003–2009
  • Co-chair, ICC Task Force on the Production of Electronic Documents in Arbitration 2009–2011
  • Chair, CPR Arbitration Committee, 2004–2007
  • Vice chair, IBA Committee on International Arbitration, 2000–2002
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