Robert Smit is a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he is co-chair of the litigation department’s international dispute resolution practice. He represents clients in a wide range of complex commercial litigations and arbitrations, concentrating in the areas of international commercial and investment arbitration. Smit regularly serves as arbitrator in international arbitrations in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, and is listed as one of the leading international arbitration lawyers in the world by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, Euromoney, Law Business Research, Legal Media Group Expert Guides, and PLC Global Counsel Handbooks.
Smit has served as a U.S. member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, chair of the New York City Bar Association International Commercial Disputes Committee, adviser to ALI Restatement (Third) of International Arbitration in the United States, co-chair of the ICC Task Force on Production of Electronic Documents in Arbitration, chair of the Center for Public Resource’s Arbitration Committee, and vice-chair of the International Bar Association’s Committee on International Arbitration and ADR.
He clerked for the Honorable Charles M. Metzner, U.S. District Court Southern for the District of New York, from 1986 to 1987.
He received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1986 and his B.A. from Cornell University in 1981. Smit also has a Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies in private international law and international arbitration from the Sorbonne in Paris, and has taught U.S. commercial law at the Sorbonne.