Avinash Sunassee > 5 St James Court > Port Louis, Mauritius > Lawyer Profile

Avinash Sunassee

+2302086372 avinash.sunassee@5stjamescourt.com View profile View profile View profile

Work Department

Barrister

Position

Avinash’s current practice involves litigation work, advice and consultancy. He is involved in ‘heavy weight’ disputes and matters of significant complexity. He has a practice which covers all major economic areas in Mauritius, with a focus on commercial matters, financial services, restructuring (including insolvency) and construction.

He acts for clients and major players in the banking and financial services, telecommunications, infrastructure, energy, construction, leisure, retail and luxury sectors.

Avinash is recognised in leading directories such as Chambers Global and Legal 500. 5 St James Court is also ranked in IFLR 1000. Clients describe Avinash as a “very bright and very strong lawyer” (Chambers, 2015) and as having a “fantastic reputation” (Legal 500, 2017).

Career

Avinash has worked as Legal Counsel to the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius and tendered advice to the Commission on all aspects of its work, including in relation to the existing regulatory regime in Mauritius (in particular that relating to collective investment schemes and the enforcement regime). While in private practice he has also led litigation for the Financial Services Commission.

Avinash has acted as lead legal consultant in relation to an international consultancy project entailing the review of the banking and financial services sector in Ghana and the creation of an international financial services centre there. He has also acted as lead legal consultant on the creation of a financial services centre in Rwanda. He has been called upon to tender advice to the Mauritius Government in relation to the Industrial Development Task Force set up in light of specific changes required to legislation to remove negative protection aspects and other constraints to industry, in the wake of the tariff liberalisation programme undertaken by Government in Mauritius.

Languages

English, French, Hindi, Creole

Memberships

Avinash is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a certified Mediator by the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the ‘Centre de Mediation et D’Arbitrage’ Paris (CMAP).

Education

LL.B (Bachelor of Laws), London School of Economics and Political Science (L.S.E)

Personal

Avinash is a director of a private bank operating in Mauritius structured on the Swiss model.

Avinash has contributed to ‘Global Financial Services Regulators’, published by Richmond Law and Tax Ltd (now an Oxford University Press publication) and was a speaker at the LCIA Africa user forum in 2014. He has participated as an arbitrator at the LSE-LCIA London VIS Pre-Moot in March 2019.