
Robert Smit
- Professor of Professional Practice
D.E.A., Universite de Paris I-Sorbonne, 1988
J.D., Columbia Law School, 1986
B.A., Cornell University, 1981
International Commercial and Investment Treaty Arbitration and Transnational Litigation
D.E.A., Universite de Paris I-Sorbonne, 1988
J.D., Columbia Law School, 1986
B.A., Cornell University, 1981
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.
The international arbitration expert and longtime adjunct professor joins the Columbia Law School faculty full time.