India Dispute Resolution Forum

Justice Hima Kohli was a practicing Advocate mainly in the High Court of Delhi, India, till she was elevated as a Judge in the same Court in the year 2006. During her practice as a Standing Counsel and Legal Advisor to the New Delhi Municipal Council and as an Additional Standing Counsel, Government of Delhi[1999-2004], she had appeared in a number of important Public Interest Litigations and issues of public importance including, Enforcement of Fire safety norms in high rise buildings, cleaning river Yamuna and its embankment, removal of unauthorized construction in Delhi, redevelopment and maintenance of ancient monuments and sites in Delhi, free flow of traffic in Delhi and removal of encroachment on public land.

Sir Robin Knowles CBE commenced practice at the Bar in 1984, and was appointed a QC in 1999. His practice was in commercial, financial, company and insolvency law. He became the Chairman of the Commercial Bar Association of England & Wales and of Advocate (the Bar Pro Bono Unit) and the National Pro Bono Centre.

In 1998 he was appointed an Assistant Recorder, a Recorder in 2000 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 2007, sitting in the Crown Court, the Chancery Division and the Commercial Court. He is a qualified mediator and has sat as an arbitrator. He became a High Court Judge in 2014.Sir Robin is the Judge with day-to-day responsibility for the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts, and is a board member of the Financial Markets Law Committee. He has served as Chairman of the International Committee of the Judicial College and as a member of the Civil Justice Council. Through the pandemic he chaired the cross-sector MR’s Working Group on possession proceedings. Within the HMCTS Reform Programme he chairs the Litigants in Person Engagement Group (LIPEG).

Mr. Arun Chawla is Director General of the Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA) the apex arbitral Institution of India & Director General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), India’s apex business chamber representing industry and trade.

Mr. Chawla is a postgraduate with a degree in Law from the University of Delhi. He has over 37 years of work experience, most of which have been gained while holding charge of important verticals at FICCI and also steers the activities of the Indian Council of Arbitration (ICA).

The ICA was established in 1965, with the objective of promoting and facilitating the use of arbitration, conciliation, and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for the settlement of commercial disputes. As an arbitral institution, it has gained the status of national importance, recognized by the Ministry of Law.

He has travelled extensively worldwide as a member of Ministerial and Chief Ministerial Delegations to showcase the economic opportunities in India to potential investors. This has contributed immensely towards building strong Public-Private Partnerships in many key areas of the economy.

He serves as a member on several Government constituted committees at the Central and State levels.

Mr. Chawla has presented several papers on Arbitration and Mediation at International and National Fora and he has authored many articles for the national dailies of India on legal, social, and political-economy issues.

Tejas Karia is a Partner with the Dispute Resolution Practice at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and also heads the Firm’s Arbitration Practice.

His expertise spans across international and domestic commercial arbitrations, corporate & securities litigations, general corporate advisory and diverse aspects under the information technology law including data privacy and confidentiality.

Tejas has extensive experience handling a broad range of complex, high-value international and domestic commercial disputes and frequently advises clients across diverse industry sectors including oil and gas, real estate, construction and private equity, amongst others. He has represented clients in arbitrations before the LCIA, ICC, ICADR, ICA and SIAC, as well as the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts.

His well-regarded contribution to policy formulation across the arbitration domain endows Tejas with a deep understanding of issues that enables him to present solutions that deliver effective resolutions for his clients. Tejas has advised on the drafting of amendments to a number of key Acts including the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 and the Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill, 2015. He has also been a part of the high-powered committee set up by the Government of India for institutionalisation of arbitration in India.

Mr. Hiroo Advani is a highly regarded name and world authority on arbitration law, and is one of only two Indian lawyers ever listed in the International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitrators.

Recognized as the leading dispute resolution lawyer by the Legal 500 – India and an ‘A-List’ lawyer by the India Business Law Journal, Mr. Advani has been known to have a fantastic success rate in arbitrations, and an enviable record of having won a large number of multi-million dollar awards in international as well as domestic arbitration proceedings.

Kingshuk Banerjee is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution practice group of Khaitan & Co. He is currently based in Mumbai, India.

Kingshuk acts for and advises clients in a variety of commercial, corporate and contractual disputes. He has represented clients in disputes arising out of M&A transactions, shareholders’ and joint venture agreements, private investments, international trade, construction contracts and real estate transactions.

Kingshuk primarily focusses on arbitrations and related proceedings in Indian and foreign courts. He regularly appears before domestic and international arbitral tribunals. He has led and appeared in arbitrations administered under the rules of SIAC, ICC, LCIA, SCMA, WIPO as well as ad-hoc arbitrations.

Kingshuk is regarded as a leading arbitration practitioner in India. He has received the Lexology Client Choice Award for his arbitration practice in 2021 and 2022. He is also ranked and recommended by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500. Most recently, Kingshuk has been recognised as a ‘Litigation Star’ by Benchmark Litigation.

Gopal Subramanium is a Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India. In 1993, he was designated Senior Advocate suo moto by the Supreme Court, one of the youngest in India’s history to receive the designation.  Gopal has served as Solicitor General of India, Additional Solicitor General of India, and as Chairman of India’s Bar Council. He is an Associate Member of 3 Verulam Buildings and a Judge at the Qatar International Court. Gopal was recently made a Foundation Fellow at Somerville College, Oxford and is a Member of the University’s Chancellors Court of Benefactors.

In 2018, Gopal was unanimously elected an Honorary Master of the Bench by the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, London. In 2009, he received the National Law Day Award for Outstanding Jurist from the President of India.

Gopal is regularly engaged as counsel in high value commercial disputes before Indian courts, and as both arbitrator and counsel in ICC, SIAC and LCIA arbitrations.

Ankur Khandelwal is a Dispute Resolution Partner in the New Delhi/Gurgaon office. Highly experienced in various commercial dispute resolutions (litigations and arbitrations), Ankur has also been deeply involved in the white-collar crimes/criminal defense practice. Ankur has experience of advising clients from diverse sectors such as pharmaceutical and healthcare, hospitality, e-commerce, banking and finance, construction & infrastructure, etc. He advises multinational and domestic clients on a variety of complex litigation issues and is also engaged by clients for formulating and advising comprehensive litigation strategies. He regularly argues matters before the Supreme Court, High Court of Delhi, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and other tribunals and fora.

Due to his rich dispute resolution experience, Ankur is also engaged for advising on various transactions at different stages, including deal negotiations and policy consultations. During the last few years, Ankur has been extensively advising clients in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, representing the clients in various litigations, and also advising them on myriad regulatory, advisory and policy issues.

Rohan has over a decade’s experience in company and commercial disputes. He has acted for large corporations in shareholders’ litigations and represented global businesses in both institutional and ad hoc arbitration across an array of industries including oil & gas, engineering procurement construction (EPC), mining, foreign investment, consumer, services, retail, banking and manufacturing. He regularly appears before the Supreme Court of India, Commercial Bench of High Court of Delhi and Company Law Tribunals. Rohan was recently part of a consitutional reference before the Supreme Court of India on an important legal doctrine concerning arbitration.

Prior to joining Anagram, Rohan was part of the disputes and commercial practice at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.  as a Principal Assoicate. He pursued tax litigation at Economic Laws Practice. He also founded a boutique litigation chambers in Delhi.

Rohan holds experience in arguing and representing parties in arbitration, original side disputes and appeals. He has conducted cross examination of factual and techical witnesses before arbitral tribunals and High Courts.

Rohan has published pieces on commercial laws, arbitration and foreign investment in leading journals. He regularly speaks at domestic and international forum on arbitration.

Promod Nair is a Senior Advocate who appears regularly before the Supreme Court of India and various Indian High Courts. He has acted as counsel or arbitrator in over 100 domestic and international arbitrations under the ICC, LCIA, SIAC, ICSID and PCA Rules and in ad hoc proceedings. He has been appointed as arbitrator by the ICC, LCIA, SIAC, LCIA India and has also acted as emergency arbitrator under the SIAC Rules.

Promod has been instructed as expert witness on Indian law in English and Hong Kong court proceedings. He has represented the Republic of India in arbitrations commenced under Bilateral Investment Treaties and has also represented India at the United Nations. He has also advised, and acted for, investors in investor-State disputes. Promod served as a member of the LCIA Court between 2013 and 2018. He is currently a Council Member of the HKIAC and a member of the Advisory Council of the MCIA.

Admitted

1995 India; 1999 New York

Designated a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court of India – March 2019

Ritin started his career in 1998 as an Associate in the Business Practice Group of Jones Day in its Cleveland office before relocating to India to practice corporate law.  He transitioned to a disputes practice in 2004 when he joined the Chambers of Ashok H. Desai, a Senior Advocate and formerly Attorney General for India. Ritin has been designated a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court of India in 2019.

Ritin brings his experience as a corporate lawyer to bear on a variety of commercial and regulatory disputes, including in company, competition, insolvency and telecommunications law.  His practice spans appearances in the Supreme Court of India, the High Court of Delhi, the commercial tribunals situate in Delhi and before arbitral tribunals.

Ritin accepts instructions to appear both as counsel and as arbitrator in arbitral disputes, and as an Indian law expert in courts or forums outside India. Ritin is on SIAC’s panel of arbitrators.  He is a member of the ICC India Arbitration Group and the India Rapporteur for the 3rd Edition of the “ICC Guide to National Procedures for Recognition and Enforcement of Awards under the New York Convention”.

Ritin also teaches a course on the practice of commercial disputes at the Jindal Global Law School where he has been appointed Honorary Adjunct Professor of Law and Distinguished Professor of Legal Practice.

(India)

Alok Jain is a Partner in the Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Practice of ELP.

He has represented and advised domestic and international clientele in negotiations, mediations, and international commercial & domestic arbitrations and court litigation. He has worked across sectors including oil and gas, infrastructure and construction, ports, energy, metals and mining, chemicals, electronic and consumer goods, information technology, heavy machinery and finance.

His forte and passion though lies in construction arbitration where he has represented clients such as Turner Group, Atkins and SNC Lavalin, Larsen & Toubro, J Ray McDermott, Dubai Port World, Boskalis group, Fernas group, Sapura group, Welspun group and the Kalpataru group. Due to his ability to understand technical aspects of complex projects, he has been a part of and led matters involving complex claims in offshore oil and gas construction, road and highway projects, port construction and dredging, railways and metro construction, energy and renewables space, large petrochemical plants and refineries and urban infrastructure. He has played a key role in settling disputes involving some landmark monuments recently being developed across India.

Alok has extensive experience in ad-hoc and institutional arbitration, including arbitrations under the Rules of ICC, LCIA, SIAC, GAFTA, BSE and NSE. He is also adept at advising clients on pre-dispute management and has often succeeded in obtaining settlements that offer business continuity.

He has authored several articles which have been published in internationally acclaimed journals and have been cited in authoritative compendiums in the field of arbitration. Alok is enrolled with the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa.

Alok is recognized as a Future Star of Litigation in Benchmark Litigation and has also been featured as Rising Star in India by Asian Legal Business’ 2023 report. Additionally, he has also been recommended for his arbitration expertise in the Legal 500 rankings.

Ms Neeha Nagpal, a graduate of the University of Warwick, England, studied BA [Hons] Law & Business Studies. She went on to do her LL.M in International Economic Law at the University of Warwick. Being enrolled as a Lawyer in India for over a decade now, Neeha has vast commerciallaw and litigation experience at the Supreme Court of India, various High Courts, National Company Law Tribunal, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, & Competition Commission of India. Neeha has also advised clients in transactions relating to the restructuring of Companies & Media/ TV show productions. She has worked on several International Commercial Arbitrations representing the Essar Group as well as Telecom Companies. Neeha also represented various Telecom players as well as Coal companies, in the 2G cancellation & Coal block de-allocation case before the Supreme Court of India. She represented the Essar Group & others in the 2G Trial and in the Coal block de-allocation Trial. Neeha was a part of the team of lawyers who worked on the challenge to homosexuality laws in India before the Supreme Court, which led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in India. She continues to actively focus on commercial law practice with a focus on white-collar crimes & represents various HNI[s] & erstwhile promoters of large companies such as Fortis Hospitals, Yes Bank, Educomp Solutions, Unitech in matters pertaining to PMLA, SFIO, CBI. She has represented various promoter[s]/companies in matters pertaining to the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code: such as Diamond Power Ltd, Educomp Solutions Ltd, Dighi Port Ltd, & Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Ltd.

Srishti is a commercial disputes lawyer with a focus on international arbitration. Srishti has a particular interest in and focus on India-related disputes and she continues to develop and maintain connections in the region.

Srishti’s practice focuses on complex, cross-border, high-value commercial disputes including both litigation and international arbitration. Srishti has considerable experience in advising clients (both corporates and high net worth individuals) globally on contractual and shareholder/joint venture disputes, fraud and asset tracing matters, insolvency issues, interim relief applications, jurisdictional matters and enforcement actions. She has acted as counsel for multinational clients in commercial disputes before various courts and tribunals in India and the US as well as in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations under various arbitral rules (including the ICC, SIAC, LCIA and UNCITRAL rules). In addition, Srishti has substantial experience in advising and representing investors and states in investment treaty arbitrations under the ICSID rules.

Srishti’s experience spans a number of sectors, including banking, mining, oil and gas, energy, telecommunications, construction and infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and hospitality. Her work has included disputes across various jurisdictions, including Africa, India, Singapore, Turkey, South Korea, Middle East, England and the Americas.

Srishti is also experienced in ADR, including both mediations and without prejudice negotiations. Prior to joining Keidan Harrison LLP, Srishti worked at the London office of LALIVE, Debevoise & Plimpton and Three Crowns. Before moving to London in 2017, she was a disputes associate at Trilegal, a leading law firm in India and Stokes Wagner, a boutique disputes firm in New York. She is admitted to practice in England & Wales, New York and India.

Ajay D’Cruz is the Legal Director – ISS India. He has a rich and diverse experience having held prominent positions for 18 years in the field of legal, compliance, regulatory and secretarial functions encompassing corporate laws, joint ventures, IT laws, litigation and contract management as well as board, shareholder and governance matters. He possess strong IT skills in web development and when combined with his past experience of driving technology adoption in the legal domain, it has been an essential recipe to “getting IT right” the first time’, his involvement in digital transformation projects has made him an integral part of the business and legal software development life cycle’. Prior to joining ISS India in 2017, Ajay worked with notable companies such as Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants India (JLL India) and GKB Carl- Zeiss India in prominent legal and secretarial positions, receiving the prestigious Magna Carta award during his seven-and-a-half year tenure at JLL India.

Sherbir Panag is the chair of Panag & Babu’s, internationally acclaimed and highly respected – Compliance and Investigations Practice. Sherbir has deep experience in defending multinational companies and conducting internal investigations in matters involving criminal and regulatory proceedings, as well as counselling clients on navigating India in a compliant manner. Sherbir’s practice has consistently been listed as a market leader for white collar crime in India and is ranked by Who’s Who Legal, Global Investigations Review, Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500. Through the course of his career, Sherbir has helped multinational companies across sectors, address their complex and sensitive issues. Sherbir has led investigations and acted as defence counsel in some of India’s most high profile cases, which have also had an interplay with law enforcement in the United States, Europe and Asia. These matters have involved allegations of bribery and other misconduct under Indian and foreign anti-corruption laws such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, U.K. Bribery Act; financial and regulatory fraud (e.g., non-performing assets / loan impairment, tax evasion, insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings); procurement fraud; infrastructure fraud (e.g., misuse of development funds sanctioned by multilateral development banks); violation of sanctions laws; and violation of corporate governance and corporate policy norms. Sherbir was recently called to Foundry Chambers as an overseas associate tenant. As part of the multi-jurisdictional realm to the firm’s practice, Sherbir founded the Concilium Network – an international network of highly acclaimed white-collar crime law firms. Sherbir is a Senior Fellow at the Wharton School’s Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research and is a member of Cornell University's - Meridian 180. He regularly lectures and writes on subjects on the subject of white-collar crime, compliance and business ethics. Sherbir is a member of the Forbes Business Council and also of the Bureau of Indian Standards committee drafting an India anti corruption standard. He was formerly part of the International Bar Association's anti-corruption expert group that made a submission on Australia's foreign bribery laws to the Australian Senate Economics Reference Committee. Sherbir also served as the Vice Chairman of the Alliance for Integrity’s Advisory Group an initiative by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit’s (GIZ).

Prateek Bagaria is a specialist practitioner in international disputes.

He brings forth over a decade of experience in complex commercial cross-border disputes with strong focus on international arbitration, complex litigation, white-collar crime litigation, global enforcement and recovery.

He also represents athletes & sports federations in matters of anti doping and other disputes. Legal 500 describes him as "responsive and dynamic" and "a very driven individual and a good lawyer who handles clients well".

He is licensed to plead before the courts in India and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). A prominent speaker across leading forums and a sought after advisor & thought leader in matters across the globe, his robust legal knowledge coupled with a unique approach to problem solving continues to be recognized widely.

Steven Haynes is a Director at Greyhawk and has 25 years of investigations experience.

He provides evidence and intelligence to law firms and their clients in complex, high-value and cross border disputes. He has extensive experience of identifying the assets of personal, corporate and sovereign debtors.

His clients include judgement creditors, banks, state asset resolution agencies, deposit insurance agencies and arbitral award holders.

At Greyhawk, he manages multilingual teams engaged on international disputes; these typically combine a range of investigative approaches, including collection of human intelligence, surveillance, interviewing, analysis of public records, and the use of specialist tools to extract information from the deep web and social media.

Greyhawk operates globally, with noted expertise in Europe, the CIS, the Middle East and Africa. The firm’s asset tracing engagements frequently include analysis of structures in offshore jurisdictions. Steven joined the investigations sector in 1997 after a career as a news reporter.

Komal graduated from the Sydenham College, University of Mumbai, with a bachelor's degree in Commerce. She studied Law from the K.C. College, University of Mumbai. She worked at a prestigious law firm in Mumbai for several years and thereafter she practised independently till she joined the firm as a Senior Associate. She was made up as Partner of the firm in 2018.

She has over two decades of experience in advising various private and multinational clients on company law, contracts, property matters, and various types of litigation and dispute resolution in India. Komal has represented clients before various fora including the National Company Law Tribunal and the Supreme Court of India amongst others. She has substantial amount of experience in dealing with disputes in various arbitration proceedings for builders, contractual matters and wind power energy. She has successfully represented clients for Election Petitions. She has also represented clients in high profile family disputes and matrimonial matters and has facilitated the settling of complex family disputes.

Corporate & Commercial Litigation, Dispute Resolution, Arbitration, Shipping & Maritime Litigation, Aviation, Criminal Litigation.

With over four decades of experience, Mr. Ravindra Shrivastava is a Senior Advocate, and former (first and youngest) Advocate General of the State of Chhattisgarh.

He is regularly engaged by various State Governments including the State Government of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh to argue important cases in the Supreme Court. He was especially engaged by the Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development to argue important cases in the High Court of Allahabad and Andhra Pradesh, recently.

He has been representing various big corporate clients in the private sector as a senior counsel in high stake commercial litigation particularly for Dow Chemicals (for the last 20 years in environmental matters arising out of Bhopal Gas Tragedy), Cott Beverages Inc, Daewoo Power, Reliance Industries, TATA Group, Adani Enterprises, Essar Group, L&T, ITC Group, Jaypee; Birla, RPG and Modi Groups; and PSUs like ONGC, SAIL, NTPC, BALCO, BHEL, NDMC etc.

With more than 23 years of experience handling a range of legal issues for diverse industry sectors, Purnima has gained a reputation for understanding the pulse of her clients and consistently delivering optimal solutions. As a Partner at Fox Mandal’s Hyderabad office, she primarily focuses on Corporate, Commercial and Real Estate practice. She has been the Chairwoman of IWN Telangana and has been recognised for her bespoke counsel as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in India by Forbes in 2022. 

A highly-regarded dispute resolution lawyer with extensive experience of international arbitration, complex commercial litigation and ADR. Nick has argued cases as counsel before arbitral tribunals seated in numerous different jurisdictions, as well as appearing before the English High Court in arbitration-related proceedings. He currently serves as a director of the International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC) in London, a Users Council member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), and a Council member for the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA).

 

Tariq Khan is a seasoned disputes practitioner having over 10 years of experience. He was appointed as the Partner of a prominent law firm Advani and Co., New Delhi in 2021 and is currently the Registrar of International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC), Hyderabad. He is also an arbitrator, trained mediator and member of the chartered institute of Arbitrators (CIArb,UK). Over the course of his career, Tariq has been involved in more than 50 complex and high-stakes arbitrations both domestic and international, across a variety of industries including construction, infrastructure, energy, joint-venture and intellectual property and worked with clients from around the world. Tariq is a Professor (Adjunct) at NALSAR University of Law and has authored several books including commentary on Indian Arbitration Law and Law Relating to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises. He has more than 60 publications on arbitration to his credit and has been recognised as an arbitration expert by SCCOnline. Tariq has conducted several training programme for arbitrators, mediators, IAS officers, corporate counsel, company secretaries, and he is a resource person in various national and international institutions. He is also serving as an advisor to several ADR societies and is a member of the Scrutiny Committee of the Confederation of Alumni for National Law Universities (CAN) Foundation. Tariq has been listed in the Forbes Legal Powerlist, 2020-2021 as one of the top individual lawyers and the youngest lawyer listed in BW (Business World) Legal 40 under 40, 2020. He also featured in Fortune 500 (India) Magazine for authoring the best-selling book ‘On the Rise’

Advocate Kunal Vajani is a leading independent dispute resolution practitioner based in New Delhi. Mr. Vajani has been reported as a Notable Practitioner by Chambers and Partner Asia Pacific for the years 2016 to 2018.

Armed with a law degree [LLB] from Government Law College, Mumbai, India, and masters [LLM] from Harvard Law School, Boston, USA. Mr. Vajani is also qualified as a Solicitor, Supreme Court of England & Wales.

With effect from July 2018 the World Council of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris appointed Mr. Vajani as a Court Member (India) of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris for a term of 3 [three] years. Previously, since July 2016 Mr. Vajani was an Alternate Court Member (India) of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris. Mr. Vajani is also an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee of ICC, India.

He specializes in litigation [civil & corporate criminal] as well as arbitration matters [both domestic & international commercial]. Mr. Vajani and has represented clients in various leading matters relating to amalgamations / mergers / demergers, cable and telecom disputes, challenges to central / state government policies, challenges to policies of electricity distribution companies and orders of regulatory commissions, competition, constitutional litigation, corporate crimes, derivative actions, direct and indirect tax [income tax, service tax and entertainment duty], environment, enemy property laws, foreign exchange, infrastructure disputes, intellectual property litigation, insolvency, natural gas and petroleum disputes, partnership disputes, private equity investment disputes, public and private trusts, prevention of money laundering, real estate disputes, rehabilitation and restructuring of companies involving capital restructuring, recovery of debts including NCDs, FCCBs, OCBs, documentary credits, shareholder litigations, smugglers and foreign exchange manipulators laws, testamentary matters and winding up proceedings.

Mr. Vikram Pooserla has over 22 years of experience, practising as an advocate dealing with various civil, criminal & corporate litigation as well as domestic & international arbitration.

In his practice, Mr. Pooserla dealt extensively with matters concerning the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), SARFAESI Act, Banking law (including the RBI Circulars) etc. He advised several persons on challenge to various provisions of the IBC concerning personal guarantors to corporate debtors, and appeared in numerous petitions before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Telangana, wherein such provisions were highly contested. He also submitted a paper to the Parliamentary Committee on Sub-ordinate Legislation in regard to bringing into effect the provisions concerning the insolvency of personal guarantors to corporate debtors and their enforcement. 

Apart from litigation, Mr. Pooserla was involved in various corporate restructuring transactions including handling the First Cross Border Merger in India. He has varied experience in drafting complex corporate agreements and has advised various clients on several transactional work and structuring terms of resolution plans for corporate debtors admitted to the insolvency resolution process under the IBC. Mr. Pooserla and his team also handled various international arbitration proceedings conducted under the aegis of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA).

In view of his experience, expertise, and professional contributions, Mr. Pooserla has recently been designated as a Senior Advocate by the High Court of the State of Telangana. He is also a ‘Member of the Specialist Mediator Panel (India), the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC)’ for the period from 01.05.2023 to 30.06.2025, and the Co-Chair of the Young, IAMC Steering Committee for 2022-2024.

Mr. Subir Kumar, FCIArb holds LLM in International Trade & Investment Laws and is a Fellow with Chartered Institute of Arbitrator, London. He is Managing Partner & Arbitrator with SDS Advocates. Having keen interest in International Arbitration & ADR, He is India’s Member to ICC Commission on Arbitration & ADR, Paris, France and holds Diploma in International Maritime Arbitration & International Commercial Arbitration from CIArb London & Columbia Law School. Having experience of over 12 years in the field of International Arbitration, Maritime Laws, Civil and Commercial disputes, White Collar Crime, Indirect and direct taxes, Shipping laws, Insolvency laws, Real Estate, Banking & finance, Mergers & acquisitions, Sports laws, Energy Laws, He has appeared in relation to various matters for Public Sector Undertakings in International Arbitration & Private Entities for Domestic Arbitrations. He regularly appears for Ministry of Finance and Union of India before the Bombay High Court & Supreme Court of India.

Mr Kumar recently featured as Top Managing Partner by Forbes India in the Legal Powerlist, 2021. His firm was Awarded as Top Law Firm for two consecutive years by Forbes India in the Legal Power list 2022 & 2021 in the field of Arbitration/Mediation|Litigation |Restructuring, Insolvency & Bankruptcy| Banking & Finance, Capital Markets & Securities Law | White Collar Crime. He was also included in Distinguished Legal Minds of India in the Coffee Book published by Legal Era for the year 2019-2020. Recently, He is appointed as Senior Standing Counsel for Central Board of Direct Taxes & Indirect Taxes by Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He was invited as Guest Speaker to the legal conclave “Make in India” held on December 1, 2016, in London, where he held forth on “Are arbitrations ethical or just a private unethical fight?”. He was also invited as Guest Speaker to the legal conclave “General Congress” organized in 2017 by Legal Era Magazine. He was awarded Rising Star under 40 (2017) by Legal Era, and his Firm SDS Advocates was the winner of Boutique law firm of year 2019-2020 by Legal Era.

Laurence Lieberman is the head of Taylor Wessing's India Group, responsible for all of the firm's inbound and outbound India business.  The India Group focusses on four key sectors – Life Sciences, Technology, Private Wealth and Real Estate, and counts Glenmark, Lupin, Alkem, Ola, Lodha, MGF Developments, State Bank of India, Eka and other Indian multinationals, as well as several UHNW Indian families and individuals, as clients.  As a senior partner in Taylor Wessing's Disputes and Investigations team, Laurence has also acted for a range of Indian corporates in court litigation and international arbitration.  Laurence leads Taylor Wessing's Life Sciences Commercial Disputes practice, and in that capacity has also advised Indian pharmaceutical giants Sun Pharma and Cipla for many years on contentious matters.

Prof. (Dr. ) Alka Chawla is Professor in charge of the Campus Law Centre , University of Delhi. She received “Woman of the Decade Award” from Women Economic Forum in 2022. She figured in the “Top hundred powerful women in Law” list released by the world IP Forum in 2021 and 2017. She is recipient of  ‘The Teacher of the Year Award’ 2018 given by Indian National Bar Association. She is nominated as a “National expert on Intellectual Property “ by the European Trade and Business Council. She is  Mentor to the Intellectual Property Protection Organisation, Ahmedabad;  Advisor to National IP Organisation and Member IPR Committee, FICCI. She is a member of the Human Ethics Committee of the University of Delhi.

 Prof. Alka has authored books and written a number of articles and research papers in reputed journals and has delivered lectures  at various prestigious institutions and universities in India US, Europe, UK etc.

Phillip is a commercial disputes partner and co-head of the India group at Penningtons Manches Cooper. He has over 20 years’ experience of complex, high value commercial litigation and arbitration, often with a cross-border element, and regularly advises on commercial, technology, financial services and civil fraud disputes, as well as on enforcement and asset recovery.  

Phillip has acted on a number of board and shareholder, banking and IT disputes and represents a range of private sector clients. He is often instructed in relation to interim remedies ie freezing injunctions, and has a particular interest in contentious and transactional work involving India, having acted on several English law disputes involving Indian parties. 

He has been recommended for both banking and commercial dispute resolution in The Legal 500, where he is described as being ‘a particularly astute tactician’. Phillip regularly writes, speaks and provides training on a variety of topics.

Mr. Arvind Nayar has been a practising advocate in India since 1997 and was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Delhi High Court at the beginning of 2017. He has also been a Solicitor of England and Wales, having cleared the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test in London in 2001. In 2020, Mr. Nayar joined the renowned chamber set of 4 New Square, London as a Door Tenant.

In a career spanning close to 25 years, he has built a robust practice involving civil & commercial litigation. Apart from representation in court, he has a significant volume of advisory work and is often consulted for legal opinions on varied issues by domestic and international clients, including advice on litigation strategy.

Mr. Nayar is predominantly a commercial litigator from India, practising in the Supreme Court and State High Courts and Tribunals across the country. He has extensive experience in representing parties in dispute resolution matters in a cross-section of courts and is one of the leading counsels in Insolvency disputes and arbitral proceedings. He is frequently appointed as an arbitrator and mediator in ad hoc and institutional arbitral tribunals constituted under the LCIA, ICC and DIAC rules. He is a known name in the international arbitration circuits across India, Singapore, Dubai and the United Kingdom. While his focus is primarily on commercial litigation, Mr. Nayar is also often engaged in criminal matters with favourable outcomes.

Lord (Peter) Goldsmith KC, PC, is London Co-Managing Partner and Chair of European and Asian Litigation. Before joining Debevoise, Lord Goldsmith served as the UK’s Attorney General from 2001 to 2007, prior to which he was in private practice as one of the leading barristers in London.

Lord Goldsmith acts for a variety of clients alongside his role as Chair of the firm’s European and Asian litigation practices, in arbitration and litigation in the United Kingdom and other countries. He is a KC and appears regularly in court in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, including Cayman where he has also been admitted to practise, as well as in arbitration.

Lord Goldsmith practised from Fountain Court Chambers from 1972–2001, specialising principally in commercial, corporate and international litigation and appellate work. During this time, he was ranked by Chambers UK as being in the top tier of leading silks in London for international arbitration and commercial litigation. He became Queen’s Counsel in 1987 and later Chairman of the English Bar, he also has judicial experience as a Crown Court Recorder and a Deputy High Court Judge.