Biography: Oil and Gas

Laurie Smith is the former vice chairman of Bennett Jones and founding head of the regulatory department.

He served as counsel to the National Energy Board (NEB) and as policy advisor to a minister of the government of Canada.

Laurie is lead regulatory counsel to Alberta's largest gas distributor and is actively involved in all aspects of utility regulation. He also represents offshore energy, pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects before NEB and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) joint panels and provincial authorities. He also appears before the federal and provincial appeal courts and the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also acted as an expert witness in arbitral proceedings and as a witness before the Canadian House of Commons and Senate.

He is a co-author of a chapter on the NEB and the Canada US Free Trade Agreement in Energy Law and Transactions by Matthew Bender and is consistently recognised as a leading lawyer in the energy and utility areas.

Laurie has served as a member of the advisory board to the Montreal Neurological Institute and serves as a director of several private and public companies.

Laurie received his BA from St Patrick's College, Carleton University, his LLB from the University of Ottawa and his MA from Oxford University (UK). He was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1981 and the Alberta Bar in 1984. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2000.