Karishma Vora > Chambers of Charlie Cory-Wright KC and Richard Harwood KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
39 Essex Chambers Offices
39 Essex Chambers
81 CHANCERY LANE
LONDON
WC2A 1DD
England
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Karishma Vora
Career
Karishma has a busy commercial litigation practice representing companies and individuals in high value claims before the Commercial Court and many of her cases have been reported. She specialises in business and banking disputes arising out of cross border loans and facility agreements, breach of guarantees, shareholder agreements and unfair prejudice petitions.
Her experience in such cases typically involves being instructed on challenges to jurisdiction and applications for summary or injunctive relief including freezing injunctions, before progressing to trial. Her cases often include one or more legs of the proceedings outside the UK such as before courts and tribunals in India or before the DIFC Court in Dubai, where she has full rights of audience.
Karishma is ranked in Legal 500 for the year 2020 as a leading junior for commercial litigation.
Karishma also has significant expertise in international arbitration and has been instructed in arbitrations seated in London, Geneva, Singapore and India. She has developed considerable sector expertise in the steel, cement and pharmaceutical industries and has also been instructed on behalf of companies in the power, automobile and sugar sectors in cases governed by the LCIA, ICC, SIAC, LME and RSA rules.
She is frequently invited to speak as an expert at international arbitration conferences and has addressed conferences organised by GAR, ICC, Combar, MCIA, FICCI – ICA, CII, Legal Era, the Bar Council of England and Wales etc.
Karishma has the rare expertise of being dual qualified in India and England, making her an attractive choice for matters involving either or both jurisdictions. She was a litigator in Mumbai for six years before relocating to London in 2009 and continues to be a favourite amongst Indian solicitors and clients. Her international practice includes running her own set of chambers in Mumbai. She has therefore become the go-to expert on Indian law before courts in England.
Karishma is an alumna of the London School of Economics where she taught commercial law.
Languages
Karishma speaks three Indian languages fluently, namely Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 4London Bar > Banking and finance (including consumer credit)
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3Karishma Vora – 39 Essex Chambers ‘Karishma brings a true knowledge of both the Indian and English legal markets which really valuable in cross-border disputes involving those jurisdictions where you have elements of law from both.’
London Bar > Fraud: civil
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 4Karishma Vora – Chambers of Charlie Cory-Wright KC and Richard Harwood KC
London Bar > International arbitration: counsel
39 Essex Chambers’s international arbitration practice is defined by particular strength in the construction and commercial arenas, with disputes typically arising out of infrastructure, energy and natural resources projects, as well as international trade and commodities. The set’s client portfolio consists of major multinationals, government and state-owned entities, energy companies and financial service providers. Notable members include Adrian Hughes KC and David Brynmor Thomas KC who have a well-established international arbitration construction and engineering practice in all the major arbitral centres. While Hughes KC has a strong China and Hong Kong focus, Brynmor Thomas KC has a significant India practice, recently acting in a dispute arising from the supply of drilling services and materials in India arising from allegations of force majeure during Covid. Hughes KC is representing the main contractor in a major ICC arbitration from one of the world’s largest solar energy projects in the Middle East. On the junior end, Karishma Vora and Vivek Kapoor bring in specialist experience in international trade and construction arbitration, respectively.
Middle East: The English Bar > Commercial
(Leading juniors)Ranked: Tier 1Karishma Vora – 39 Essex Chambers ‘Extremely astute, focused, and observant. A pleasure to work with.’
39 Essex Chambers is ‘a world class institution able to provide top talent in a myriad of practice areas’, with the set’s presence in the EMEA region continuing to expand, especially in relation to international commercial disputes concerning fraud and cross-border asset tracing. In KBBO Group v Anand Choudha, Karishma Vora is instructed by the latter in this shareholder dispute arising from the now defunct Spectrami DMCC, the once largest cyber security company in the Middle East. Karim Ghaly KC maintains a well-established reputation throughout the Middle East for his expertise on complex international arbitration, including under ICC, DIFC and LCIA arbitral rules.