Legal Trouble Abroad? Call Dick Atkins L’62

Dick Atkins L’62 recalls the case of a 72-year-old doctor on a trip to India with his wife. The visit had gone well until the end, when the man was suddenly arrested at the Kochi airport and about to be thrown into the local jail.

His crime was using a satellite cell phone during his travels, which was a cheaper and easier option to use in India. The phones had been banned in the country after terrorists used them to communicate during the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The doctor had been unaware of this law until his arrest.

“The prisons in India are so dismal and so dangerous and horrible,” said Atkins, who is a principal and legal counsel for International Recoveries LLC, which assists travelers who find themselves in legal trouble abroad. “Not many would have survived this.”

Atkins’ company operates a 24/7 hotline for insured travelers experiencing problems.

Through his connections, Atkins prevented incarceration. “He got his passport back, and the case is still open in absentia,” Atkins said. “He and his wife got back safely.”

For 40 years, Atkins has used his legal acumen and global network of lawyer friends to save more than 500 travelers in dangerous situations. Most often, Atkins said, troubled callers have unknowingly broken a law or violated cultural norms. In Thailand, he said, saying anything about the king or his dog or even treading on currency bearing the image of the king could land you 15 years in prison. In addition to purchasing travel insurance, he recommended researching local laws and culture before visiting a foreign country. For example, Muslim-majority countries often have laws on public dress code and rules prohibiting photography in certain places.

His company often partners with “assistance companies” that provide real-time logistics and support for insurance subscribers, and he also works directly with insurance companies and their in-house providers.

Atkins began his legal career in criminal law. His specialty was defending Penn and Temple students on marijuana charges. In the 1970s, he also became an advocate for prison transfer treaties and appeared before the U.S. Senate on the matter. By 1980, a group called International Legal Defense Counsel formed, and Atkins began helping Americans in foreign prisons get home.

“By the mid-’80s, assistance companies started, and I was retained by the International SOS to help whenever they had people stuck in foreign countries for any reasons,” Atkins said. “I became the go-to person for Americans in foreign countries.”

He formed International Recoveries in 1998 with a business partner, and the company focused on worldwide subrogation for accident claims. His company is still involved with subrogation efforts, but a major aspect of his business has become the 24/7 emergency hotline.

At 83, he has no plans of retiring any time soon. “The pleasure of getting people released from horrible circumstances, saving them from the death penalty or saving them from the horrors of foreign prisons — it’s very satisfying,” Atkins said. “I love to do that, and it keeps me going.”