Amelia Schmidt defends clients who come from different walks of life but live the same nightmare: finding themselves caught up in white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement cases that involve complicated laws and life-altering consequences.
As part of this practice, Amelia uses her substantial regulatory experience – particularly in government contracts and export control cases – to defend clients in investigations that involve complicated factual and legal issues. Facing a government investigation, or a civil or criminal enforcement proceeding of any kind, is a serious and unsettling experience for anyone – especially when the investigation involves dense regulations that are difficult to navigate. Amelia’s experience in both white-collar and regulatory matters gives her the ability to cut through the jargon and advocate for her clients caught in the government’s crosshairs, including clients who work in highly sophisticated and heavily regulated industries.
Amelia also works on legal ethics and professional responsibility matters. She has advised lawyers and their clients on attorneys’ ethical obligations, including attorney advertising restrictions and conflict of interest rules.
In addition to her work in these areas, Amelia represents clients in complex civil litigation, and both accused students and sexual assault victims in campus disciplinary proceedings.
Amelia’s passion for helping clients from all walks of life includes fighting for justice for her pro bono clients. She has maintained an active pro bono practice throughout her career. She has represented indigent criminal defendants, both at trial and in postconviction proceedings. She has represented immigrants seeking asylum in U.S. Immigration Court for fear of being harmed or even killed if forced to return to their native countries.
Amelia is also a co-chair of the Solo and Small Practice Forum of the Women’s Bar Association for the District of Columbia.
Before joining KaiserDillon, Amelia worked at other law firms in the District, where she represented clients in white collar, government contracts, and international trade-related matters, including government and internal investigations, litigation, and regulatory compliance counseling. She represented both individual and corporate clients in investigations for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the False Claims Act, U.S. export control laws and sanctions, and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations.
Amelia is a 2010 graduate of Harvard Law School and a 2007 graduate, summa cum laude, of the University of Notre Dame. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Lawrence E. Kahn, Senior U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.
Amelia is licensed to practice law in the State of New York, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School
- B.A., University of Notre Dame – summa cum laude
Government Service
- Clerkship, The Honorable Lawrence E. Kahn, Senior U.S. District Judge, Albany NY
