Robert G. Amsel
bobamsel@crimlawfirm.com
Since 1982, Mr. Amsel has dedicated his entire practice to advising individuals and entities under investigation and defending them in prosecutions in State and Federal Courts throughout the United States. Mr. Amsel is board certified by the Florida Bar as an expert in criminal trial law. Board certification is a distinction held by only 7% of attorneys in the State of Florida. According to the president of the Florida Bar: “Florida Bar board certification is synonymous with the terms ‘specialist’ and ‘expert’ because of its very high standards for professional excellence. The Florida Bar’s board certification program is one of the finest in the country, and helps the public identify lawyers who have been evaluated by their peers for experience, competence and integrity.” Mr. Amsel has been certified as a specialist in criminal law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and has been named as one of the top 100 trial lawyers by The National Trial Lawyers Association.
Since 1990, Mr. Amsel has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law, teaching criminal trial law in the Litigation Skills Department. Mr. Amsel has acted as a guest lecturer at various local and national seminars. He is past chairman of the Criminal Law Section of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, former board member of the Miami Division of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and a long standing member member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (FACDL). Mr. Amsel is the recipient of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers President’s Commendation Award and has been awarded an AV rating by the Martindale-Hubbell’s legal rating service. The AV rating is the highest accolade in Martindale-Hubbell’s rating system and is awarded after an extensive, confidential review conducted among legal professionals and judges in Mr. Amsel’s community. This rating signifies that Mr. Amsel meets the very highest standards of his profession and that his professional ethics are unquestioned.
In 2019, Florida Super Lawyer magazine named Mr. Amsel one of the top 100 lawyers in the state of Florida. Mr. Amsel was also named one of South Florida’s top lawyers by the Miami Metro Magazine. This list of top lawyers was compiled with a mailing to approximately five thousand lawyers in South Florida asking who they would recommend as the top five lawyers in various fields of practice. In 2023, Mr. Amsel was once again named a top attorney in the criminal law field by The South Florida Legal Guide (sflegalguide.com) and Super Lawyers magazine (superlawyers.com), a distinction he has enjoyed every year since these organizations began surveying and listing top lawyers in their respective fields. Mr. Amsel was also recognized in the Wall Street Journal/Miami Herald list of “Best Lawyers”.
Mr. Amsel defends all types of criminal cases, including an extensive array of white collar cases, locally, nationally and internationally. He has defended cases involving health care fraud, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, money laundering, computer/internet fraud and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations ( Including the Petrobras bribery scheme, the FIFA bribery investigation and the Rio Olympic bribery scheme).
Mr. Amsel has also successfully represented IRS whistleblowers. In a precedent setting IRS whistleblower case that was tried in United States Tax Court in Washington DC, Mr. Amsel obtained a very significant monetary award for his clients whose cooperation resulted in the first Swiss bank to ever be indicted and convicted of aiding and abetting tax evasion. A total of $74 million has been seized to date as a result of that conviction. Additionally, Mr. Amsel’s efforts resulted in the expansion of “collected Proceeds” in IRS whistleblower cases to include fines, penalties, and forfeitures as a basis for whistleblower awards.
In addition to trying all degrees of criminal cases in State and Federal Courts, Mr. Amsel has extensive experience in representing individuals and entities in civil and criminal forfeiture cases.
Mr. Amsel graduated from the University of Florida with Honors in 1978 and the University of Miami Law School in 1982. Mr. Amsel was admitted to the Supreme Court of Florida in 1982 and the United States Supreme Court in 1985. He is also a member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Circuits, the United States Tax Court and the Trial Bar of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
