Henry Smith

Henry is the Partner leading our global Intelligence and Investigations practice. He advises his clients on significant commercial decisions, such as their new investments and business opportunities, and how to investigate and resolve their sensitive disputes and crises. The 140-person practice is geographically diverse, based throughout Control Risks’ global network of offices, and closer to our clients and human source network.

The practice is ranked by Chambers and Partners as Band 1 for “Investigative Due Diligence” with clients describing Henry as: “super technical and commercial”, “very switched on”, and with “a great network”. The practice also ranks highly in other international and regional lists, including Business Intelligence and Investigations, and Asset Tracing and Recovery. Given the practice’s focus on disputes, litigation and arbitration, Henry also sits on the Strategy Board of the International Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration.

Recent engagements include:

Supporting private equity and infrastructure transactions in regulated, politically sensitive sectors including energy, financial services and transport, and providing intelligence on management teams’ capabilities and reputations across industries

Advising law firms on engagement and enforcement strategies in disputes, litigation and arbitration processes involving both commercial and sovereign counterparties worldwide

Assisting law firms and their corporate and investment fund clients with investigations into alleged corruption, sanctions violations, and conflicts of interest, within their operations and portfolio companies; and supporting disclosures to government and enforcement agencies

Henry previously led our intelligence team in EMEA and spent eight years as a geopolitical and country risk specialist covering the Middle East and North Africa. He holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of York, and an MSc in Middle East Politics from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. He is IRM certified and completed the Oxford Scenarios Programme at Said Business School (University of Oxford), which focuses on the use of scenarios in strategy.