The US magazine American Lawyer has published a new profile feature of Robert Amsterdam, with a focus on some of the bigger cases tackled by Amsterdam & Peroff LLP in recent years, including Thailand, Russia, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Nigeria.
In Russia, his work for Khodorkovsky has inspired him to blog on every subject from pipeline politics to the persecution of lawyers. At least one traditional diplomat thinks he has played a constructive, even heroic role. “Bob is a major force in helping Russian society become more accountable,” says Andrew Wood, who served as U.K. ambassador to Russia in the late 1990s. “The word that best describes Bob is courage, both moral and actual. He raises questions that are not always welcome, and that is often the proper business of a lawyer.”
Amsterdam & Peroff is as global as a boutique can be with three partners in four countries (Peroff works out of Toronto, Andrew Durkovic out of Washington, D.C., and Amsterdam out of London and the south of France). At any given time, its seven London associates might be traveling in any of 30 nations. With revenues between $5 and $10 million, Amsterdam & Peroff says it has been wooed in vain by several giant law firms, which the partners prefer not to identify. Peroff recalls: “One managing partner pulled out an organizational chart and said, ‘I want to do business, but I don’t know what box you fit in.’ What could we say when our whole life is dedicated to not being put in a box?”
Amsterdam & Peroff is attractive to some major law firms because it has represented China in the World Trade Organization, and it does plenty of work for classic foreign investors like the American hotelier Four Seasons Holdings Inc., the British miner Oxus Gold plc, and the Gibraltar-based defense contractor Mina Corp., which is fighting to keep its lucrative contract to supply jet fuel in Kyrgyzstan for U.S. missions into Afghanistan. In servicing clients like these, the firm has honed highly coveted skills in investor-state arbitration, which has become the go-to technique for investors in a jam.
But at Amsterdam & Peroff, arbitration is only one tool in the kit. “Lawyers make a fetish of investment treaties,” argues Amsterdam. “Their obsession with arbitration obscures the important role of national law and political culture in the genesis of business disputes. Our approach is to immerse ourselves in the political context.” Amsterdam’s Kindle is loaded with titles on power politics in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, subjects he regards as more important than bilateral investment treaties.
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10 Comments
Dear Mr Amsterdam, I just heard you on Canada’s national morning show THE CURRENT and I could have listened to you for hours. So enlightening to hear from your actual experience about Putin, Chavez and many more. May your bravery be rewarded with a long, long life. It renews one’s faith to listen to you. B. Osborne
Your interview on CBC was inspiring. Will be following you in your adventures. Thanks for all the work you are doing. We need more people like you.
Agreed!
CAN I HELP?? I just heard your CBC interview and felt very motivated. I’m 67 years old
living partially in France and partially in TORONTO. I took law years ago at University and have spent most of my life in telecoms as an entepeneur. I would like to support what I understand to be your efforts. If it’s any use I can contribute time, some energy, a history of challenging (in a very small and low risk way) the regulatory establishment – I, with my company NAG, were I believe the only company to get a CRTC decision overturned by the federal courts – and large flexibility (my use is entirely dependent on perceived contribution).
Hope to hear from you,
Adrian Science
Like many, many Canadians this morning, I had the pleasure to hear The Current’s host, Anna Maria Tremonte, speak with Robert Amsterdam. Such passion and clear headedness about the global political situation is rarely heard, and I do heartly agree that Mr. Amsterdam and his colleagues are doing truly courageous work.
Thank you for voicing your informed and strong opinions on how democratic governments are too often complicit in supporting corrupt governments like Russia’s. You’ve inspired me to get a few emails off to our politicians today…a small act but if multiplied by a million can make a difference.
I just listened to your interview on CBC. I so appreciated hearing your insights concerning various governments and leaders. In particular I found your advice, to become interested in one part of the world as you are in Nigeria, a refreshing choice as to how we live our lives.
I am looking at your website after listening to your interview on CBC’s The Current. Thank you for the work that you do . It requires bravery.
I heard your interview on The Current and agree with comments above. It feels so discouraging to wake up each day and hear more stories of hate and unspeakable evil. Thank you for standing up and speaking out for justice, something we cannot live without in free and democratic societies. You and your associates offer a beacon of hope to those who suffer injustice because power and profits are the bottom line. Thankfully, you are one of a growing number of organizations that dispute those bottom lines.
Dear ,
Can you handle our crude oil dispute arbitration.
Floyd Daniels