Robert Amsterdam is a Canadian international lawyer and founding partner with Dean Peroff of the law firm Amsterdam & Peroff, with offices in Toronto, Washington and London.
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Amsterdam was born in 1956 in White Plains, New York, and moved to Ottawa, Canada at a young age where he grew up as a Canadian citizen.
Amsterdam was awarded a B.A. from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) in 1975 and a LL.B. from Queen’s University (Kingston, Canada) in 1978. Amsterdam is currently based in London, United Kingdom, while the firm continues to maintain an office in Toronto.
Amsterdam was admitted to the Canadian Bar in 1980 and he is also admitted as a solicitor in London, United Kingdom.
According to his official biography, "Amsterdam has a distinguished track record of serving clients in shareholder disputes, corporate restructuring, fraud and asset recovery, regulatory and tax issues, complex commercial arbitration, and multi-jurisdictional litigation. He is also frequently sought out as a political risk advisor and strategic counsel for companies seeking to open new markets."
Some of Amsterdam's most well known cases were related to early work in Africa and Latin America (well before his later Russia-related issues). Amsterdam won a major international litigation on behalf of the Four Seasons Hotel and Resort Group in Venezuela, and he also worked the well known Gutierrez case in Guatemala, which involved representing the victims of one of the country's largest alleged tax fraud and money laundering schemes.[1][2] Amsterdam would go on to represent famous political prisoners such as Eligio Cedeño in Venezuela, African political leaders such as Nigeria's Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, and leading democracy advocates such as Singapore's Dr. Chee Soon Juan.[3][4][5]
In 2003, Amsterdam was retained by the Russian company Yukos-Group MENATEP to defend former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
In 2005, Khodorkovsky was sentenced to eight years in jail. On the night of the verdict, Amsterdam was accosted by plainclothes security agents in the middle of the night at his hotel room, who attempted to arrest him before he could call his colleagues in the media (the full story of Amsterdam's midnight expulsion was a media sensation).[6] In the years since leaving Russia, Amsterdam has delivered speeches at organizations such as the Carnegie Endowment, Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute and the International Commission of Jurists and frequently briefed politicians and NGOs on the Yukos Group-MENATEP and Khodorkovsky cases.[7] Amsterdam has also become a widely published analyst of Russia and foreign affairs, with articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, Guardian, Die Press, Tagesspiegel, and Le Monde, among others (see links below).[8][9][10]
In March 2009, Khodorkovsky appeared in court for a second trial for fraud and tax evasion. Though Amsterdam cannot represent Khodorkovsky in Russia (no foreigner can argue before a Russian court, and the Federation has refused to issue a visa), he still represents Khodorkovsky on the international stage.
Some members of the Yukos clan lately expressed their worries on Amsterdam's "radical line of defense" based on the systematic denunciation of the political aspects of the Khodorkovsky's trial, forgetting at some points to respond formally to the charges he is indicted for.[11]
Robert Amsterdam was hired in May 2010 by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to serve as international lawyer and adviser to the defense counsel of the United Front from Democracy against Dictatorship.[12]
On May 3, 2010, Robert Amsterdam issued a statement mentioning his intentions to "urge the international community not to tolerate the government's violent crackdown on self-proclaimed peaceful protesters".[13]
On July 22, Amsterdam published an 80-page "White Paper" detailing what he charged were human rights and international law violations committed during what he considered to be the "Bangkok massacres [14]"
In describing Amsterdam's approach to international legal problems, the general counsel of the Four Seasons told BusinessWeek, "He uses the law but brings many other things to bear on the problem."[15]
The firm's unique niche of handling politically difficult cases in some of the most challenging investment environments was first brought to public attention by an article published on the front page of the Globe and Mail's business section by Ann Kerr on February 17, 2003.[16] Amsterdam has also been profiled in BusinessWeek, Conde Nast Portfolio, Canadian Lawyer, The Times, Le Monde, and many others. Amsterdam has also been a featured guest on the Charlie Rose Show.[15][17][18][19]
Amsterdam has two official blogs listed on Amsterdam & Peroff’s website:[20] and.[21]
Amsterdam has published more than 5,000 original articles on his main blog and many legal blogs have cited his [22]"
The prestigious blog "Siberian Light has ranked [23]" as one of the "Top 5 Russia blogs."[24] Amsterdam's blog was also a finalist in the 2007 Weblog Awards.[25]
Among the various publications mentioning Mr. Amsterdam's achievements, a recent article published on the legal circuit quoted colleague lawyers stating that Amsterdam's blogging and lobbying activities are an example demonstrating legal and ethical obligations to clients.[26]
Amsterdam is known to use Blogs as a platform for sharing his cause with internet readers. He is well verse with gorilla marketing and getting his clients point across the web in a short amount of time. K Social Media Consulting LLC [27] is a company that runs full scale media campaigns for clients. Amsterdam employs this company to establish a strong presence in the online community to support his clients cause.
Although Robert Amsterdam champions free speech, many people have raised concerns when they try to post comments on his Blog that does not support Mr. Amsterdam's view. Internet readers have repetitively said that their comments were never posted or simply deleted on Amsterdam's blogs.