A partner in the Litigation Department, Andrea Smith is an experienced trial lawyer who has successfully represented major companies in billion-dollar cases in domestic and international forums. Andrea’s international work spans Central, South and North America at both the trial and appellate levels. Domestically, she has represented clients in an array of industries, including oil and gas, food and agriculture, aerospace, technology, accounting, real estate and financial services. She has also served as trial counsel for state and local governments.
Andrea’s representations include:
- Chevron Corporation in more than 30 climate change actions filed across the country attempting to shift liability for national and international energy policy choices on to energy producers. To date, Chevron has prevailed on multiple motions to dismiss these actions.
- Dole Food Company as lead trial, appellate and nationwide coordinating counsel in environmental litigation brought by tens of thousands of plaintiffs alleging harm from exposure to DBCP. Plaintiffs from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama and the Ivory Coast have brought claims across the United States and their countries of origin. Tens of thousands of claims have been successfully defeated and no claims have survived to judgment since Andrea became lead Dole counsel. In one of the lead cases, strategic foreign and domestic investigations led by Andrea ultimately resulted in a fraud trial and the dismissal with prejudice of all claims by Nicaraguan plaintiffs pending in U.S. trial courts, and a sanction for the plaintiffs’ and their counsel’s fraud on the court.
- Eli Lilly in Brazilian litigation arising from allegations of environmental exposure at an industrial facility. Following entry of a judgment exceeding one billion reais and multiple related labor court judgments, hundreds of claims against the Brazilian subsidiary were dismissed.
- Hilton in multiple foreign disputes and related U.S. proceedings, including the successful resolution of foreign matters and the defeat of multiple attempts to obtain U.S. discovery in support of those actions.
- Chevron in international litigation arising out of an environmental case brought in Ecuador in 2003, including as lead counsel in Chevron’s successful RICO and fraud suit against the U.S. lawyer and associates who masterminded an extortion scheme that included fraudulently procuring a $9.2 billion Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron. In its 485-page opinion, the court described that case as “extraordinary” and “includ[ing] things that normally come only out of Hollywood,” including “coded emails,” “payments out of a secret account,” videotaped evidence of crimes in progress, and blockbuster evidence that the defendants “wrote the [Ecuadorian] court’s Judgment themselves and promised $500,000 to the Ecuadorian judge to rule in their favor and sign their judgment.” The New York Times described the result as a “major victory,” and The Washington Post called it “resounding.” Andrea continues to advise Chevron on a range of issues flowing from this matter and in related foreign enforcement and international arbitration matters.
- Dole Food Company as lead trial counsel in California state court, securing dismissal of hundreds of false claims alleging that the company funded and directed paramilitary activity in Colombia.
- Dole in a recognition and enforcement trial in the Southern District of Florida where plaintiffs sought to enforce a bellwether $100 million Nicaraguan judgment. Dole defeated enforcement of the Nicaraguan judgment following trial before the District Court in 2009 and its victory was affirmed by the 11th Circuit.
- An aerospace company in the settlement of a federal toxic tort case involving three putative class actions as well as individual plaintiffs alleging claims for personal injury, wrongful death, property damage, CERCLA response costs, medical monitoring and punitive damages in connection with alleged air and groundwater contamination with TCE, PCE and Cr6. By the time of trial in Los Angeles federal district court, all class allegations had been defeated and only nine plaintiffs remained. The case was settled during trial for an amount below plaintiffs’ hard costs.
- Lockheed Martin Corporation in high profile state court toxic tort litigation involving alleged groundwater contamination near aircraft and rocket manufacturing facilities. The matters included claims by hundreds of individual plaintiffs and putative classes alleging personal injury, wrongful death and medical monitoring damages. Through successful appellate and trial level strategies, including key expert exclusions and writ proceedings on punitive damages, burden of proof and statute of limitations, judgment was entered in the client’s favor.
- An engineering and testing company in toxic tort lawsuits brought by more than 100 plaintiffs and a putative class of property owners in which the company was accused of contaminating the groundwater flowing from a site located in Norco, California. The lawsuit was resolved to client’s advantage with a successful strategy that resulted in the recovery of fees and costs.
- Liza Minnelli in the successful defense against a high-profile suit brought by her stepmother, Lee Minnelli, alleging elder abuse and breach of fiduciary duty.
- Trial counsel for state and local government entities in an oil royalty matter, which included a four-month jury trial in California.
- Lead trial counsel in numerous successful trust litigation matters, including representations of both major trust companies and the heirs of United Parcel Services, Freedom Communications, Newhall Land and Farming and Farmers Insurance.
Awards & Recognitions
Throughout her career, Andrea has received numerous accolades for her strategic and courtroom accomplishments. In 2025, she was named to Benchmark Litigation’s Top 250 Women in Litigation list and Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Global Litigators list.
Andrea has been named Benchmark Litigation’s U.S. Environmental Litigator of the Year (2023, 2024), a Litigation Star in New York, and one of the nation’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Lawdragon has listed her on its 500 Leading Global Litigators list (2024) and its Global Litigation 500 list for International Litigation & Arbitration. Latinvex named her as one of Latin America’s Top 100 Lawyers and Top 50 Female Lawyers. She received the California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year award from California Lawyer (2010); the Attorney of the Year award from The Recorder (2009); and has been repeatedly recognized by The Daily Journal as a Top Female Litigator in California and one of California’s Top 100 Lawyers. Andrea has also been recognized by The National Law Journal as an Energy & Environmental Trailblazer.
Andrea’s work while at her prior firm was featured in The American Lawyer in its “Litigation Department of the Year” recognitions in 2016, 2012 and 2010.
Andrea has served as chair of the board of directors of the Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center and on the board of United Cerebral Palsy of Orange County; and has been a member of the United Way’s Alexis de Tocqueville Society and the Women’s Philanthropic Fund. Andrea has also served as co-chair of BUZZ: An Executive Women’s Think Tank.
