Derek C. Smith
Partner
Derek Smith is chair of the Investment Arbitration and Public International Law Practice Group.
Dr. Smith practices in the areas of international dispute resolution, petroleum law and public international law. He represents governments and private companies in international arbitration and other dispute settlement proceedings. He also works with governments of petroleum producing countries and national oil companies in the full range of matters related to production sharing contracts for oil and gas exploration, including the resolution of disputes. He advises clients in international pipeline construction and liquid natural gas projects.
Dr. Smith also represents numerous government clients with regard to the settlement of international boundary disputes that implicate oil and gas development and assists them in establishing legal mechanisms for handling transboundary resources. He also advises private oil companies on boundary and resource questions.
Prior to coming to the firm, Dr. Smith was an attorney at the United States Department of Justice, where he handled immigration and cross-border cooperation matters. Dr. Smith is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French.
Publications
Author of the report on the Agreement on the Exploration and Production of Hydrocarbons in the Common Interest Maritime Zone (Angola-Democratic Republic of the Congo) published in volume VI of the series International Maritime Boundaries (2011).
Author of the report on the Protocol of Agreement Dated 10 September 2001 Approving Offshore Unitization Prospects 14K and A-IMI (Angola-Republic of Congo) published in volume VI of the series International Maritime Boundaries (2011).
Author of the report on the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (Australia-East Timor) published in volume VI of the series International Maritime Boundaries (2011).
“How to Deal with Maritime Boundary Uncertainty in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Areas,” Paper prepared for the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (May 2007).
Petroleum Utilization Agreements : Report Number 4-9(2) Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria; Report Number 6-20(3) Australia-East Timor; Report Number 9-15(2-4) Norway-United Kingdom, V International Maritime Boundaries 3199 (David A. Colson & Robert W. Smith eds. 2005).
“Beyond Indeterminacy and Self-Contradiction in Law: Transnational Abductions and Treaty Interpretation in U.S. v. Alvarez-Machain,” European Journal of International Law (1995).
“Evidence Issues in Asylum Cases,” Immigration Briefings (October 1990).
“Note, A Refugee By Any Other Name,” Virginia Law Review (1989).
Education
University of Seville, 1998, Ph.D., magna cum laude
University of Virginia School of Law, 1988, J.D., Order of the Coif
University of Virginia, 1984, B.A.
Bar Admissions
Languages