Amsterdam & Partners LLP is a leading international law firm providing strategic support to law firms, corporations, and individuals operating in politically challenging and crisis-prone environments.
We offer unique and multi-disciplinary approach in cases featuring political and extra-legal aspects, relying on decades of experience working with top ranking CEOs, heads of state, and leading corporate champions in Africa, the Middle East, East Asia and Latin America. With a reputation as tenacious corporate counsel focused on proactive crisis prevention strategies, Amsterdam & Partners LLP provides its clients with a full spectrum of dispute resolution services with the aim of tackling complex issues in some of the most difficult global jurisdictions.
The firm is a leading advisor to family offices and UHNWI regarding asset protection and political intelligence. Working with discreet and long-term professionals in both lobbying and media, our firm is presently engaged on the ground in Africa, Eurasia, and Latin America providing cutting edge political and legal intelligence to protect investments and interests of our clients.
The law firm’s law firm
Amsterdam & Partners LLP is highly sought after by some of the world’s top law firms to provide specialist support on issues ranging from extradition, sanctions, and advisory on local litigation and transnational legal strategy. Given our size and interests, the firm is a good fit for law firms seeking to maintain overall control of their client interests, providing effective niche expertise without concern for of disruption or interference typically experienced with some larger firms.
A team of international lawyers and specialists with global reach
Many law firms claim to do international law, but there are very few who have spent the time on the ground. Our global team includes leading world specialists in litigation and arbitration, crisis and risk management, corporate foreign policy and political advocacy. Our specialists have delivered effective international white-collar defense and international arbitration in complex multi-jurisdictional disputes in Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Georgia, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Kenya, Mongolia, Nigeria, Russia, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uganda, Venezuela and Zambia, among numerous other states. With our experience in managing, litigating and arbitrating disputes, and through our team and its extensive global network of top experts, we rapidly establish “virtual firms” of experts to proactively manage disputes and crises before they become shocks, damaging the reputation and/or negatively impacting the bottom line of businesses.
In addition to multi-jurisdictional legal services, Amsterdam & Partners LLP also has a team dedicated to political advocacy, media relations and big data analytics, complementing the legal strategy with an expanded capacity to move the case in the public domain.
Experience with high profile, politically sensitive matters
Founding partner Robert Amsterdam is a leader in international law and has been defending and advising leading corporations and governments leaders for 40 years. Amsterdam has represented numerous mining and extractive industry companies when facing expropriation, intervention, and harassment by governments, and has also represented corporations such as the Four Seasons Resort and Hotels Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is well known for his deep experience advising clients in emergency situations, including extraditions, exfiltrations, sanctions issues, and international criminal law.
In 2010, the firm was appointed by the former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, to defend members of the Red Shirt pro-democracy movement, resulting in an appeal to the International Criminal Court concerning crimes against humanity committed by the Thai Army. The firm has also served as counsel to prominent political leaders and activists such as the former President of Zambia Rupiah Banda and Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine. Shortly before the 2016 attempted coup d’état, the Republic of Turkey hired Robert Amsterdam and Amsterdam & Partners LLP team to investigate into the activities of the organization led by the Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Since 2019, the firm has been privileged to represent members of the Hinduja family in a highly sensitive dispute involving the legacy of billionaire industrialist S.P. Hinduja, featuring many aspects common to the experiences of UHNWIs.
An Award-Winning International Law Firm
Amsterdam & Partners LLP is the recipient of the Global Pro Bono Dispute of the Year Award from American Lawyer after winning a case on behalf of Dr. Georges Tadonki, who was wrongfully dismissed from the United Nations after blowing the whistle on United Nations’ complicity in atrocities in Zimbabwe. Another prominent pro bono cause is Amsterdam’s representation of Stephan Templ, a Jewish historian and activist who had been jailed and later released by the Austrian government under highly controversial circumstances. In 2022, the firm was retained by the wrongly imprisoned Zimbabwean opposition leaders Godfrey Sithole and Job Sikhala. Earlier in his career, Robert Amsterdam became widely known for his advocacy on behalf of Russian political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky, resulting in his expulsion from Russia after publicly confronting Vladimir Putin over his client’s unlawful imprisonment.