Event information
Agenda
| India Disputes Summit 2019 | |
|---|---|
| 8.30am | Registrations |
| 9.00am | Opening remarks |
| 9.15am | Singh & Associates Relational contracts and implied faith in long-term contractual disputes (including role of discovery and computational models used to assess claims) The idea of a relational contract has been discussed in sociology, economics and law. The concept has recently been adopted by the Judiciary in the United Kingdom and also in other common law countries. But what does the idea of a relational contract mean? If the notion of relational contract applies, does it have particular legal implications for the transaction, such as an expansion of mandatory or supplementary duties of disclosure and obligations to perform in good faith? Our panel discusses these issues, while also considering the role of discovery and computational models used to assess claims. |
| 10.15am | Tuli & Co Current challenges in private equity and investment funds disputes Over the last few years, a number of private equity funds have invested across different lines of business in this jurisdiction and the process of safeguarding and recovering those investments has thrown up disputes and differences. Leading figures from the world of private equity will give their views on how to manage this process successfully and their experiences in dealing with these disputes through arbitration. We consider whether disputes arising as a result of economic uncertainty can be used as a strategic tool to renegotiate a deal, and also the potential means of streamlining the dispute resolution mechanism so that this can contribute to strengthening the legal infrastructure in this jurisdiction. |
| 11.15am | Coffee break |
| 11.30am | Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Third-party funding: the dos and don’ts of disputes funding in the Indian market Third Party Funding of disputes (TPF), as an asset class, has outperformed private equity, real estate, credit and hedge funds in several jurisdictions. This panel will focus on the untapped potential of TPF, which is currently ‘an asset class in waiting’ in India. The panel will bring together diverse perspectives and bring to fore practical considerations and key issues relevant for users (companies and in-house counsel), funders, practitioners, arbitrators and judges. |
| 12.30pm | Atkin Chambers The GC’s role in proactive preparation for international arbitration Our panel explores how GCs can take the lead on preparing and managing an international arbitration, covering everything from the importance of understanding the applicable arbitral procedure (such as institutional rules and emergency procedures), the value and limitations of obtaining early advice on merits, and establishing clear lines of communication during a dispute. |
| 1.30pm | Lunch |
| 2.30pm | Stephenson Harwood Strategic considerations at different stages of arbitration Surveying the life cycle of an arbitration, we survey various GCs on how they manage the life cycle of an arbitration, from drafting the contract to settling a matter. The panel will consider considerations: When drafting a contract; when a dispute goes live; engaging panels; the relevance of an organisation’s position when it comes to settling a dispute (is there a process of it is ad hoc?) and the level of involvement of the board. |
| 3.30pm | Singh Associates Fireside chat: Preparing witnesses in a dispute |
| 4.00pm | Coffee break |
| 4.15pm | HSA Advocates Panel discussion: The arbitration adjudication ecosystem: a discussion on practical challenges Our panel of experts surveys developments in the Indian arbitration space to discuss the following: Has court intervention in arbitration matters decreased in India over recent years (especially after the Arbitration Act of 2015)? How can the Indian arbitration ecosystem improve service delivery across all stakeholders, including arbitrators, counsel, the Bar and expert witnesses. Does India need to have more dedicated professional arbitrators from their respective subject fields of expertise rather than a generalist arbitrator such as retired judges? What are the major recent developments clients should know when it comes to considering India as a seat of arbitration? |
| 5.15pm | Closing remarks |
| 5.30pm | Drinks and canapés |
| 6.30pm | Finish |
Speakers include
Dr Akhil Prasad, country counsel India and company secretary, Boeing India
Dr Akhil Prasad is Country Counsel India and Company Secretary with Boeing India and is based in New Delhi. In past, he has held the offices of: head of legal and company secretary with Fidelity Worldwide Investment (2007 to 2013); director, India legal affairs and company secretary of The Walt Disney Company India (2005 to 2007); senior attorney and company secretary of General Motors India (2003 to 2005); and assistant general manager legal with Electrolux Kelvinator (2000 to 2002). Prior to these assignments, he has also worked with the legal teams in Modicorp Group (including Modi Xerox and Graphtech India from 1995 to 2000). Akhil has about over 25 years’ experience as an in-house counsel and has worked with legal teams spread across different countries.
Amar Sundram, India head of legal, corporate governance and regulatory affairs, Royal Bank of Scotland
Amar Sundram is an in-house senior corporate legal professional with wide experience in strategic thinking, the formulation of operational guidelines and complex legal issues. He has worked with the best Indian and multinational business houses including DCM Shriram, Birla, TATA, AT & T, Reliance, Citi and E&Y. A multifaceted professional with 22 years of corporate experience, Amar is currently India head of legal, corporate governance and regulatory affairs for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and is a member of India ExCo.
Chandan Garg, senior legal manager at Petronet LNG Ltd
Chandan Garg is senior legal manager at Petronet LNG Ltd, a leading oil and gas company that established India’s first LNG receiving and regasification terminal. Garg has worked in-house for the last 16 years, both at Petronet LNG and Jindal Steel & Power, and has extensive experience handling commercial, regulatory, criminal and civil litigation arbitration proceedings in the steel, power and gas industries at various levels. He also has a wide experience drafting and vetting long-term LNG and gas sale and purchase agreements, cross-border joint ventures and other commercial contracts.
Manoj K Singh, founding partner, Singh & Associates, Advocates and Solicitors
Mr Manoj K Singh, founding partner of the law firm Singh & Associates, Advocates and Solicitors, specialises in litigation and ADR practice. He has extensive experience and is a name to reckon with for large-scale commercial litigation along with domestic and international ADR matters including ad-hoc and institutional arbitrations. He has successfully undertaken and represented clients in many international arbitrations including under the rules of International Chamber of Commerce, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Singapore International Arbitration Center, and the London Maritime Arbitrators Association.
Nitin Mittal, general counsel, head of legal, compliance and company secretary – South Asia, Signify Innovations India Ltd
Nitin Mittal is currently working as general counsel, head of legal, compliance and company secretary- South Asia of Signify Innovations India Ltd (formerly Philips Lighting India Ltd). He is part of the India lighting leadership team and part of the growth markets legal team. He also supports business and legal teams in other international markets for various projects and assignments. Prior to joining Philips Lighting, he worked as head of legal, compliance and company secretary for OSRAM India Pvt Ltd where he spent ~10 years in the legal function. There he was responsible for legal and compliance for India, acted as compliance officer for Australia, and supported the APAC compliance team for compliance tasks in the APAC Region. He also served as a director at OSRAM Lighting Private Ltd as part of the carve out project of OSRAM in India. He has a total work experience of around 17 years.
Rovine Chandrasekera, Managing partner, Stephenson Harwood LLP
Rovine Chandrasekera is managing partner of Stephenson Harwood’s Dubai office and a commercial litigation and shipping partner. He advises on a broad range of commercial disputes and deals with matters regarding asset recovery, enforcements and contracts relating to offshore oil and gas, shipbuilding and shipping. He has extensive experience of litigation and international arbitration within England as well as UAE market leading experience in the Sri Lankan markets.
Kamal Shah, head of Africa and India groups, Stephenson Harwood LLP
Kamal Shah is the head of Stephenson Harwood’s Africa and India groups. He specialises in complex, cross-border international arbitration, litigation and fraud and asset tracing in Africa and India, and frequently acts for governments, government entities, banks, private corporations and high net worth individuals in a range of matters including those relating to projects and infrastructure, joint ventures, banking and finance, shareholder arrangements, energy and a range of schemes commonly used to defraud individuals and corporations.
Mayank Dhingra, senior education business leader – Middle East cluster, HP LLP
Mayank Dhingra joined HP in June 2019 to lead the education business for the Middle East cluster (GCC, Levant, Turkey, North Africa and East Africa). His role is to provide strategic direction, solution frameworks, commercial oversight, social-capital curation and thought leadership to the education business line. Mayank is charting the roadmap for the division’s next two years and is focused on engaging with regional education ministries to evangelise about HP’s solutions. He is currently spearheading the development of HP’s first Innovation lab in the region, HP’s Digital Classroom ecosystem, helping set up Ethiopia’s model school for talented and gifted students and supporting Egypt’s MoHE on their Smart Universities National Program.
In association with...
Singh & Associates is an ISO 9001:2008 certified full-service law firm, headquartered in New Delhi. It has a pan-India presence, with offices strategically situated at Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurugram. The firm has four major practice groups which are, litigation and ADR, contracts and transactions, corporate and tax, and intellectual property. The firm has created its own niche by providing quality legal services accompanied with excellent turnaround time and competitive fees. The firm has a strong team of professionals including experienced lawyers (with in-house advocacy expertise), chartered accountants, company secretaries, trade mark attorneys, patent agents, engineers and specialised paralegal staff. Singh & Associates was presented with the Excellence in Professional Services Award 2017 by Indo-American Chamber Of Commerce (IACC). The firm has also been awarded the Law Firm of Year Award at India Legal Awards 2016 and a ‘Notable Firm’ by Asia Legal Business M&A Rankings 2016, and 2016 also saw the founding partner, Manoj K Singh, featuring as One of the 100 Legal Luminaries of India for the year 2016, described as ‘excellent and solution-oriented lawyer’ recommended for dispute resolution practice by the renowned The Legal 500. In 2017, WTR1000 has recognised the firm as World’s Leading Trademark Professionals.
Tuli & Co was established in 2000 in association with Kennedys to service the Indian and international insurance and reinsurance industry. With offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, the firm undertake work for a cross section of the insurance and reinsurance market and work closely alongside Kennedys’ network of international offices.
Atkin Chambers is a set of commercial barristers with an international reputation for providing advocacy and advice on construction, engineering, and infrastructure project development and disputes. Disputes are extremely varied and include transport, power, water/sanitation, IT and telecommunications, and social infrastructure projects. Wider commercial and professional negligence work is often related to such disputes.
Members have wide experience of courts and tribunals ranging from the Supreme Court to the county court, international and domestic arbitrations, public inquiries, adjudications and all forms of alternative dispute resolution. Members also deal with litigation and advice in many jurisdictions around the world. They are frequently appointed as arbitrators, adjudicators and mediators.
Stephenson Harwood is a law firm with over 1,100 people worldwide, including more than 180 partners. Its people are committed to achieving the goals of its clients – listed and private companies, institutions and individuals.
Stephenson Harwood assembles teams of bright thinkers to match its clients’ needs and give the right advice from the right person at the right time. Dedicating the highest calibre of legal talent to overcome the most complex issues, the firm delivers pragmatic, expert advice that is set squarely in the real world.
The firm is headquartered in London, with ten offices across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In addition, the firm has forged close ties with other high-quality law firms. This diverse mix of expertise and culture results in a combination of deep local insight, and the capability to provide a seamless international service.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is India’s largest full-service law firm, with about 750 lawyers, including 130 partners, and offices in India’s key business centres of Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Chennai.
Our practices include corporate/commercial, banking & finance, capital markets, litigation & dispute resolution, projects, competition law, employment, financial services regulatory, investment funds, intellectual property, private clients, real estate, tax, investigations and TMT, amongst others.
Our clients comprise domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, technology companies, financial institutions, private equity funds, venture capital funds, start-ups and government and regulatory bodies. We have been consistently recognised for our top quality work by leading international as well as domestic publications.
Stephenson Harwood is a law firm with over 1,100 people worldwide, including more than 180 partners. Its people are committed to achieving the goals of its clients – listed and private companies, institutions and individuals.
Stephenson Harwood assembles teams of bright thinkers to match its clients’ needs and give the right advice from the right person at the right time. Dedicating the highest calibre of legal talent to overcome the most complex issues, the firm delivers pragmatic, expert advice that is set squarely in the real world.
The firm is headquartered in London, with ten offices across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In addition, the firm has forged close ties with other high-quality law firms. This diverse mix of expertise and culture results in a combination of deep local insight, and the capability to provide a seamless international service.
Since the firm’s inception in 2003, HSA Advocates (HSA) has consistently been recognised amongst one of India’s foremost and trusted full service legal advisors to corporates, financial institutions, PE and VC funds, governments and public sector enterprises. Drawing strength from the collective experience of its people, the exceptional diversity of its profiles and deep sector understanding, at HSA each and every lawyer invests in servicing clients with utmost sincerity, keeping the client’s interest paramount.
This is demonstrated by the high level of commitment and ability to find pragmatic solutions that are unique and rooted in deep insights of a client’s business. This allows the firm to not only help clients mitigate risks but also find solutions that create a pathway of success. The in-depth knowledge of policy-legal-regulatory and commercial risks and the subtle nuances that influence the underlying sectors/industries is a key differentiator that sets the firm apart.
Clients acknowledge and recognize HSA for the professionalism and commercial perspective brought to assignments; strong commercial acumen, managing transactions in an efficient and cost-effective manner and to address and resolve demanding commercial and legal issues in a practical manner has always been recognised by the clients as strong points of HSA.
Led by a growing collegium of partners who are legal experts of great repute, the firm has a well-established full service capability to serve clients across multiple industries and sectors including automotive, aviation, banks and financial institutions, e-commerce, education, energy including renewable energy, environment, health and safety, hospitality and healthcare, infrastructure – urban and rural, insurance, manufacturing, media and entertainment, mining and exploration, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, PPP projects, real estate, retail and FMCG, services sector, smart cities, transport, telecommunication, IT and software.