Gordon Smith - Barrister & Solicitor, International Arbitrator

Summary Experience

Gordon Smith is an experienced Barrister & Solicitor, International Arbitrator, Adjudicator, Review Adjudicator and Mediator.  He is a Principal of Gordon Smith Legal, with his chambers located in Perth, Western Australia.  He is also a registered Adjudicator in Western Australia, Northern Territory, New South Wales, and Victoria, and a LEADR qualified mediator.

Gordon has been appointed as sole, panel, and emergency arbitrator on major construction, engineering, infrastructure, oil and gas, commodity, and commercial arbitrations of up to US$200m in value.  He has also been appointed as a party-appointed arbitrator in two investor-state arbitrations under the auspices of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ('ICSID').

He is a Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators.   Gordon is also a Grade 1 Resolution Institute accredited arbitrator.   He is also a member of the Chartered  Institute of Arbitrators Presidential Panel of Arbitrators, and a panel arbitrator on the SIAC, HKIAC, LCIA, JCCA, ICDR, KLRCA, NZDRC, NZIAC, AICC,  and Law Society of Western Australia arbitration panels.  He was also a director of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Australia) Limited from April 2016 to October 2018.

In July 2022, Gordon was also appointed by the Western Australian Government as the Energy Disputes Arbitrator under the Energy and Arbitration Review Act 1998 (WA).

Gordon has 40 years' commercial dispute resolution experience.  He was resident in Singapore and Hong Kong for 13 years, and was a partner and head of Engineering and Construction Law and International Arbitration Groups at international law firms in Asia until 2012.  More recently, he was Senior Legal Counsel at Kellogg, Brown & Root, acting for the EPCM and EPC contractors on the Gorgon (US$50b) and Icthys LNG (US$40b) Projects respectively, advising on major claims.

Prior to becoming a Barrister & Solicitor, Gordon practised for 14 years as a consultant civil/structural engineer and project manager in Australia and New Zealand. involved in the design, contract administration, and assessment and negotiation of claims, on mining, oil and gas projects, and hydro-electric projects.  He was the design structural engineer on a range of projects in Western Australia, including the 3rd Train of the Woodside LNG plant, Boddington Gold Mine, Greenbushes Tin, and  Wodgina Tantalum Project.  He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and Chartered Professional Engineer (1989-2012).

He has substantial experience as counsel in complex international arbitrations, having conducted over 70 arbitrations of up to US$2.2b in value in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Jakarta under institutional rules ICC, SIAC, HKIAC, TAI, Bani, KLRCA, and ad-hoc arbitrations (UNCITRAL).  He has also conducted a major, US$200m, investor state dispute on behalf of an investor against an Asian state under the auspices of ICSID.

Gordon has determined numerous adjudications of up to A$85m in value involving, for example, LNG process plants, LNG pipelines, power projects, wind farms, piled foundations, roadworks, commercial buildings, mining developments,  and tailings dams.

Gordon has also led teams for the drafting and negotiation of suites of documents for major engineering, power, resource, and oil and gas projects throughout Asia-Pacific, and advised clients on claims and the administration of such projects, most recently on the Gorgon and Ichthys LNG Projects in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.  He has drafted and negotiated traditional construction contracts, EPC and EPCM contracts, guarantees and performance bonds, consultant agreements, project management agreements, joint venture agreements, novation agreements, equipment supply contracts and special conditions for standard forms.

He has published over 50 articles and delivered over 70 talks at seminars on international arbitration, and engineering and construction law related topics in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.   As a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators' Teaching Faculty, he has taught the Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration , Fast Track to Fellowship, Membership Fast Track, Award Writing and Introductory Arbitration Courses.