Frau Anahita Thoms > Baker McKenzie > Dusseldorf, Germany > Lawyer Profile

Baker McKenzie
NEUER ZOLLHOF 2
40221 DÜSSELDORF
Germany
Anahita Thoms photo

Work Department

International Trade

Position

Anahita Thoms heads Baker McKenzie’s International Trade Practice in Germany and is a member of our EMEA Steering Committee for Investigations, Compliance & Ethics. Anahita is Global Lead Sustainability Partner for our Industrials, Manufacturing and Transportation Industry Group. She serves as an Advisory Board Member in profit and non-profit organizations, such as Atlantik-Brücke, and is an elected National Committee Member at UNICEF Germany. She has served for three consecutive terms as the ABA Co-chair of the Export Controls and Economic Sanctions Committee and as the ABA Vice-Chair of the International Human Rights Committee. Anahita has also been an Advisory Board Member (Beirätin) of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Council of the German Government.

Anahita has won various accolades for her work, including 100 Most Influential Women in German Business (manager magazin), Top Lawyer (Wirtschaftswoche), Winner of the Strive Awards in the category Sustainability, Pioneer in the area of sustainability (Juve), International Trade Lawyer of the Year (Germany) 2020 ILO Client Choice Awards, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, Capital 40 under 40, International Trade Lawyer of the Year (New York) 2016 ILO Client Choice Awards. In 2023, Handelsblatt recognized her as one of Germany’s Dealmaker and “most sought after advisors of the country” in the field of sustainability.

Anahita focuses her practice on global investigations and white-collar crime proceedings before German authorities and courts. She has significant experience advising on internal compliance programs, accompanying internal and external investigations and self-disclosures, inter alia in cases of breaches of sanctions, export control, human rights, data protection and foreign investment review, closely collaborating with the competent authorities.

Languages

English, Farsi, German

Memberships

  • Deutsches Komitee UNICEF e.V. – Member
  • American Bar Association – Member of the International Human Rights Steering Committee
  • Berlin Bar Association – Member
  • Dusseldorf Bar Association – Member
  • American Bar Association – Co-chair of the ABA Export Controls and Economic Sanctions Committee
  • American Bar Association – Member of the ABA Privacy, E-Commerce and Data Security Steering Committee
  • Atlantik-Brücke e.V. – Board Member

Education

  • Harvard Kennedy School (Executive Education: Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century) (2022)
  • Stanford University (Executive Education: Strategies for Sustainability) (2020)
  • Nottingham Trent University (LL.M.) (2013)
  • Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf (Second State Exam) (2007)
  • Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf (First State Exam) (2005)

Lawyer Rankings

Deutschland > Handels- und Vertriebsrecht > Außenwirtschaftsrecht

(Führende Partner)

Anahita ThomsBaker McKenzie

Baker McKenzies außenwirtschaftsrechtliche Erfahrung kommt besonders häufig in Außenwirtschaftsprüfungen und verbundenen buß- und strafrechtlichen Ermittlungsverfahren zum Tragen und weist oftmals Schnittstellen zu handelsrechtlicher und ESG-Compliance auf. Auch die investitionskontrollrechtliche Begleitung von hochkarätigen Transaktionen, Exportkontrolle sowie die Sanktionsberatung im Zusammenhang mit Russland und dem Iran spielen eine bedeutende Rolle in der Praxis; zuletzt beriet man zudem verstärkt zur Foreign Subsidies Regulation. Das für eine Vielzahl an internationalen Blue-Chips tätige Team wird von der äußerst visiblen Anahita Thoms geleitet, die auch in menschenrechtlichen Belangen versiert ist, und umfasst ebenfalls Associate Kimberley Fischer, die vorrangig zu Trade Compliance, Exportkontrolle und Nachhaltigkeitsbelangen berät.

Germany > Trade and distribution > Foreign trade law

(Leading partners)

Anahita ThomsBaker McKenzie

Baker McKenzie‘s foreign trade law expertise is regularly requested in foreign trade audits and related administrative and criminal investigations, including the support in interfacing trade law and ESG compliance matters. Other mainstays are the investment control support in connection with large-scale transactions, the advice on export control as well as Russia and Iran sanctions; recent instructions increasingly pertain to foreign subsidies regulation. The team advises various international blue chip clients and is led by Anahita Thoms, who is well versed in human rights issues. Associate Kimberley Fischer primarily advises on trade compliance, export control and sustainability issues.