ALB India recognises 30 leading lawyers in the country’s litigation and arbitration landscape on the basis of their work, market feedback and client recommendations. The names are in alphabetical order, and some practitioners have been profiled.
ROHIT KOCHHAR, founding member, managing partner, Kochhar & Co
Kochhar is a leading litigator who advises on high-stake corporate/commercial disputes and white-collar crimes matters. For more than 35 years, Kochhar has acted for large multinational corporations and prominent domestic companies on their most pressing commercial litigation and arbitration issues.
He regularly advises numerous Global Fortune 500 Corporations. Kochhar has advised on matters that have possessed the dual dimensions of criminal and civil remedies. He assisted an Italian multinational pharmaceutical company in obtaining a court order directing the special commissioner, economic offences wing to examine the closure report pertaining to a highly complex multi-jurisdictional financial fraud involving legal rights to a probiotic bacterial product. Recently, Kochhar led a large team of lawyers and secured a favourable award for a large Japanese corporation from a SIAC arbitral tribunal wherein the stakes involved were more than 15 billion rupees ($200 million).
“Mr. Rohit Kochhar is a great lawyer with outstanding skills. One of the best I have ever known. His main strength is his client-centric approach, leadership and ability to prepare and execute a wholesome strategy for us keeping in view our business and commercial objectives,” says a client. Adds another: “He is a perfectionist to the core, and the most creative and solution-seeking lawyer we have worked with compared to the managing partners or senior part-ners in the two other leading Indian law firms that we have worked with in the past.”
DHRUV MALIK, counsel, Juris Corp
Malik, who was admitted to the India Bar in 2010, specialises in arbitration, commercial disputes, banking and insolvency disputes, and competition law. He has been with Juris Corp for seven years.
Malik has been involved in some important matters. He has advised and represented certain multinational banks being the counterparties in a matter concerning derivative transactions on the Futures & Options Segment of a stock exchange. He also represented a domestic private Bank before the Delhi High Court in a Writ Petition filed by an infrastructure company in India, inter-alia, seeking a direction on the Reserve Bank of India to instruct the said Bank to implement the scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A Scheme).
Furthermore, Malik counselled a leading Indian private bank in a contractual dispute pertaining to a business development agreement and its termination.
According to Malik, his philosophy is, “As a lawyer, no matter what my role is or who the client is or what the matter is about, my responsibility is and always will be, to be fully prepared.”
Malik believes that the responsibility of any successful lawyer is to give back to the community to the extent possible. “In this direction, I have been a part of few curated interactive sessions for few of our clients imparting time-sensitive legal information,” he says.
Shubhabrata Chakraborti, equity partner at Juris Corp, says, “Dhruv is bestowed with good legal acumen. His articulation is also immaculate. The fact that he is an outstanding team player is a big bonus.”
ANAND SHRIVASTAVA, partner, Sagus Legal
With more than 11 years of experience, Shrivastava specialises in dispute resolution and arbitration, infrastructure, and competition law. He has advised and successfully represented some important players in the energy sector in a plethora of issues ranging from contractual disputes to regulatory and policy issues which entail the sector. He has also acted for clients on competition-related issues and has represented them in proceedings before the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
Shrivastava represented a trans-mission company before the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in relation to granting permission to build, own and operate an inter-state transmission system without the issuance of an inter-state transmission license. This was the first time such permission was issued by the CERC.
A few of his important clients include Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited, Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited - erstwhile Central Electricity Supply Utility of Odisha, Tata Power Company Limited – Transmission (TPC-T) and Tata Power Company Limited – Distribution (TPC-D), The Tata Power Company Limited, Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited, Jindal Stainless Limited and Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited.
Besides this, the Shrivastava-led dispute resolution and energy practice teams at Sagus were finalists at the ALB India Law Awards, 2021.
Talking about Shrivastava, Shruti Kanodia, founding partner of Sagus Legal, says, “Anand is brilliant at strategic and long-term thinking. His ability to provide innovative and creative solutions is coupled with industry insights and knowledge of law. He is extremely good at understanding the crux of any matter and excels in regulatory issues.”
MANISHA SINGH, founder, managing partner, LexOrbis
Singh has more than 23 years of legal experience, having been admitted to the India Bar in 1998. She is known for her understanding of IP laws and legal nuances, and provides practical and business-oriented solutions to clients.
Singh has been instrumental in developing global IP portfolios for many Indian companies and research institutions. She passionately pursues endeavours to strengthen India’s IP protection and enforcement system to align it with international standards and work closely with the industry associations and the government. She is also the standing counsel for the Reserve Bank of India at the Delhi High Court.
Among her notable matters, Singh has advised H. Lundbeck in a trademark and copyright infringement proceeding before the Bombay High Court. She also appeared on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a petition filed before the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, where the petitioner had challenged the COVID-19 moratorium circular issued by the RBI.
This is the second consecutive year that Singh has made the list of ALB India Top Disputes Lawyers. She is a prolific writer and has contributed chapters in Indian IP laws to many leading publications.
“Manisha’s farsightedness, love for innovation and vision to build an organization for IP, matching international standards resulted in LexOrbis, one of the first in class IP firm in India,” says Abhai Pandey, partner at LexOrbis.
Talking about her philosophy, Singh says that she believes in “unity in diversity.” She is also a firm supporter of female empowerment, and says, “I have encouraged women to pursue their dream roles at our organisation and provided the required support to achieve those ambitions.”
THE LIST
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INDIA TOP DISPUTES LAWYERS 2021 |
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SHUJATH AHMAD MANISHA CHAUDHARY SANDEEP DEVASHISH DAS AMEYA GOKHALE MANI GUPTA KIRAN JAIN SNEHA JAISINGH AMIT JAJOO SUKRIT R KAPOOR AMIT KAPUR ROHIT KOCHHAR CHARANYA LAKSHMIKUMARAN DHRUV MALIK SHANTANU MALIK RAJAT MALHOTRA |
ATUL SHANKER MATHUR ADITI MITTAL MUSTAFA MOTIWALA NEVEILLE MUKERJI VASANTH RAJASEKARAN BHUSHAN SHAH RAGINI SHAH ATUL SHARMA ABHINAV SHRIVASTAVA ANAND SHRIVASTAVA HEMANT SINGH MANISHA SINGH SHWETABH SINHA ANIRUDH SURESH C GEORGE THOMAS |