The French daily newspaper Le Monde has published a profile of Robert Amsterdam.  The original article can be viewed online here – below is an English translation.

Le Monde, Portrait, January 8, 2009

Robert Amsterdam, Lawyer without bars
By Piotr Smolar

Since 2003, the Canadian business lawyer has been defending Mikhail Khodorkovsy, former CEO of Yukos, the Russian Oil Group. In the name of efficiency, he spends most of his time out of the court mobilizing his networks.

One must be cheeky to declare oneself ‘communist’ at the age of 12. Especially, when, as a lawyer, one specializes in defending big industrial groups against state interests. For Robert Amsterdam, this is the story of his life. He is audacious, hyperactive, he has no complex. He thinks fast and speaks even faster, some “f” words slip off his tongue from time to time when he feels at ease, just as if the word was the label of a true New Yorker.