MCIA Council

Adrian Winstanley is an independent arbitrator at Arbitra Chambers, London, a mediator and ADR consultant, with extensive experience of disputes arising from a wide range of contractual relationships including commodity trading, insurance, shipping, telecommunications, construction and infrastructure, oil and gas exploration and
production, shareholders’ agreements and mergers and acquisitions.

Adrian has over 25 years’ industry experience, primarily as the Head of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and latterly as a high-level consultant and ADR rules draftsman, sand also as arbitrator and mediator.

He has acquired unparalleled experience and expertise in every aspect of the conduct of international and domestic arbitration, mediation and other forms of dispute resolution, and in the development and management of arbitration centres.

Prior to his career as consultant and independent neutral, Adrian was as a member of the Clifford Chance arbitration team before taking the role of Registrar of the LCIA in 1997 and of Director General of the LCIA in 2000. Adrian actively oversaw every step in the administration of many hundreds of arbitrations, and of many mediations and adjudications, arising from a wide range of commercial enterprises and in many jurisdictions.

Adrian was Secretary-Treasurer of the International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI) from 2000 to 2009; and a Vice President of IFCAI from 2009 to 2013. He played a pivotal role in the establishment and operation of DIFC-LCIA (Dubai); of LCIA-India (Delhi) whose operations have reverted to London (with the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA) now taking the lead in India); and of LCIA-MIAC (Mauritius), now the independent MIAC; in the process acquiring valuable insight into commercial arbitration in the Gulf, Asia, and Africa, as well as in the UK.

He is a member of the panels of arbitrators of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC); ICDR (AAA-ICDR); KCAB International, Seoul (KCAB), and the Oman Commercial Arbitration Centre (OCAC).

In 2013, Adrian was awarded the OBE for services to international arbitration.

“It would be hard to argue against the proposition that Winstanley is one of the chief architects of the success of London as a centre for international dispute resolution .” (Commercial Dispute Resolution Magazine, February 2014)

A Senior Counsel, Chartered Arbitrator and former Judicial Commissioner of the Singapore Supreme Court, Christopher’s arbitration practice encompasses investment as well as all aspects of domestic and international commercial disputes including construction, corporate, energy, aerospace, communications, maritime, pharmaceuticals, military & defence procurements involving the laws of various common and civil law jurisdictions. He has served as arbitrator in over 190 international arbitrations conducted either on an ad hoc basis or under AIAC (formerly KLRCA), DIFC-LCIA, HKIAC, ICC, ICDR, JCAA, KCAB, LCIA, LMAA, SCMA, SIAC and UNCITRAL arbitration rules seated in various civil and common law jurisdictions. Christopher is a Vice President of the LCIA Court and a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, the International Arbitration Committee of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, the Council of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration and the Board of Advisors of the New York International Arbitration Centre.

David W. Rivkin is Co-Chair of Debevoise & Plimpton’s ESG/Business Integrity Group and former Co-Chair of its International Dispute Resolution Group.  He served as President of the International Bar Association in 2015-2016, the first American to serve in that role in 25 years.  As IBA President, he led major projects on judicial integrity, business and human rights, climate change, human trafficking, and the independence of the legal profession, among others.  He regularly spoke about the important role of lawyers in preserving the rule of law.  

Mr. Rivkin is consistently ranked as one of the top international dispute resolution advocates and arbitrators in the world.  He has handled international arbitrations throughout the world and before virtually every major arbitration institution, and he has won some of the largest investment treaty and commercial arbitration awards.  Subjects of these arbitrations have included long-term energy and natural resources concessions, investment treaties, joint venture agreements, pharmaceutical agreements, financial issues, insurance coverage, construction contracts, distribution agreements and intellectual property, among others, and they have involved common law, civil law, and Islamic law systems. He also represents companies in transnational litigation in the US, including the enforcement of arbitral awards and arbitration agreements, and he works actively with clients on various ESG-focused issues.  He has authored many articles and frequently spoken about international arbitration and litigation. Mr. Rivkin has served in leadership roles in arbitration institutions on five continents, including currently as Co-Chair of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and as a member of the Council of the Mumbai Centre fro International Arbitration.

In 2012, the American Lawyer’s Am Law Litigation Daily named Mr. Rivkin one of two “Global Lawyers of the Year.” In 2011, the National Law Journal named him one of the country’s “Most Influential Attorneys.”   The American Lawyer quoted a General Counsel as follows:  “The thing that impresses me about lawyers is when they come up with better answers to problems than I do. Every once in a while, you encounter a lawyer who has really created the better answers. David W. Rivkin is that lawyer.”

Justice Ferdino Rebello served for 15 years in the higher judiciary where he was Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and was a former judge of the Bombay High Court.
He practiced in the Judicial Commissioner’s Court in Panaji and then at the Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court till his elevation as a High Court Judge. He is considered as a leading authority in the field of constitutional, local self – government and civil matters and specialised in service and local self government matters. He was also a lecturer in Law at Salgarkar Law College.
Justice Rebello was elected to the Goa Legislative Assembly and represented the Cuncolim constituency. He was also the past president of Clube Vasco Da Gama in Panaji.

Haigreve is a Senior Partner and heads the Corporate/M&A and Private Equity  practice at the Firm. He is an elected member of the National Executive  Committee of the Firm which is responsible for the firm’s strategic growth and  development. He advises companies, boards of directors and financial  institutions on a wide range of corporate matters, including mergers and  acquisitions, private equity investments, corporate governance, corporate  restructuring and other corporate and securities laws matters.  

He has been involved in some of the most high-profile and complex M&A and  private equity transactions in India and is sought after for his expertise by  some of the most prominent Indian promoters, Indian and international  companies, Indian regulatory agencies as well as some of the largest global  funds investing in India. He advises a range of large Indian conglomerates and  multinational clients in various business sectors, including financial services,  manufacturing, retail, infrastructure, steel, software and information  technology.  

The Honourable James Spigelman AC QC served as Chief Justice of New South Wales, Australia’s largest state, from 1998 until the end May 2011. In July 2013, he was appointed a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
After his retirement as Chief Justice he joined One Essex Court, Temple, London as an arbitrator. He has since been appointed as chair, sole arbitrator and party-appointed arbitrator on panels with seats in London, Dubai, Frankfurt, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. His work as an arbitrator has included ICC, LCIA, ICSID, KLRCA, SIAC, CAS and ad hoc arbitrations and to determine a privilege issue in an NAFTA arbitration.
James Spigelman was Senior Advisor and Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of Australia, before appointment as Permanent Secretary of the Department of Media in 1975. He was a member of the Australian Law Reform Commission from 1976 to 1979. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1986. He was acting Solicitor General of New South Wales in 1997. He has served on the boards and as chair of a number of cultural and educational institutions.  He is currently chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
James Spigelman is the author of three books, co-author of a fourth and of some 170 published articles, including on a range of aspects of commercial and corporate law such as contractual interpretation, insurance law, commercial arbitration, insolvency, international commercial litigation, freezing orders and proof of foreign law. Three volumes of his speeches as Chief Justice have been published.

John Beechey CBE is among the best-known arbitrators in the world. A UK citizen, he has  served as chairman, party-appointed arbitrator, or sole arbitrator on international arbitral  tribunals in both ad hoc (including UNCITRAL) and institutional arbitrations under the Rules  of all major arbitral institutions including, inter alia, Association of Arbitrators South Africa, DIS (German Arbitration Association), DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre), the European  Development Fund, ICC, ICDR/AAA, HKIAC, ICSID, LCIA, OHADA Common Court of Justice  and Arbitration, PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration), SCAI (the Swiss Chambers’ Arbitration  Institution), SIAC and SCC (Stockholm Chamber) on more than 80 occasions, including  service as an arbitrator or presiding arbitrator in 12 pending investor-state disputes. 

John is a past President of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC (2009-2015). His  term of office at the ICC is regarded as one which brought about significant reform to, and the  reinvigoration of, the ICC Court. He had previously served on the Executive Committee of the  Board of the AAA in New York and as a Vice-President and member of the Board of the LCIA.  He is the current Chairman of the Board of the BVI International Arbitration Centre. In March  2018, John was elected to serve a four-year term on the Governing Board of the International  Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA). Before his retirement from private practice in the  City of London, he was the founding partner and Head of the highly regarded International  Arbitration Group of Clifford-Turner (subsequently, Clifford Chance LLP) (1983-2008). In June  2016, John was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the  Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to international arbitration. 

He is listed in Band 1 of the Chambers Most in Demand Arbitrators in Global Market Leaders Rankings and is one of 11 arbitration practitioners worldwide to appear in Who’s Who Legal’s Thought Leaders Global Elite 2021.

www.beecheyarbitration.com

Justice Mittal had an illustrious legal practice in all courts in Delhi and other judicial forums since 1981 and was invited to the Bench of the Delhi High Court as a Judge on 16th July 2004. She took charge as the Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court on 14th April 2017, which position she held till August 2018. On 11th August 2018, Justice Gita Mittal was sworn in as the first woman Chief Justice for the State of Jammu & Kashmir. 

Currently, Justice Gita Mittal is  holding the following positions:

1.Chairperson of the Broadcasting Contents Complaints Council (BCCC), an Independent self regulatory body set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation.

2.Patron, Justice Leila Seth Foundation.

3.National President, Indian Scout &  Guides Fellowship, No.16,M.G. Marg, I.P. Estate, New Delhi-110002.

4.On the advisory Board of SAMPARK, an NGO engaged in empowerment of women and  migrant construction workers.

5.Chairperson, Advisory Board of the Bangladesh India Mediators Forum [“BIMF”]

Justice Mittal has presided over several jurisdictions including PIL matters, the Original Side, Company Appeals,  criminal appeals involving life and death sentence references; matters of the Armed Forces; Cooperative Societies; Criminal Contempt References; Criminal Appeals: Death References; Company Appeals; Writ Petitions challenging the constitutional validity of any Act or rule among other matters. Justice Mittal’s judgments had a widespread impact.Justice Mittal has been a Chancellor/Member, Governing Bodies, Advisory Boards/Academic Council of National Law University Delhi, Lady Shriram College for Women, National Law University Jodhpur, Law Centre India of Cornell University, Indian Law Institute and SAARC Law.

Received the following Awards:

1.Nari Shakti Puruskar Award, the highest civilian honor for women in India conferred by the President of India in 2018.  

2.Arline Pacht Global Vision Award 2021 by the International Association of Women Judges, in the year 2021.

3.Justice P. N. Bhagwati Award, 2019 awarded by the Capital Foundation in recognition of her outstanding contribution in the field of Judicial Administration.

4.V-Wa50 Lifetime Achievement Award on 30th July, 2021.

Nakul is a Senior Advocate designated by the Supreme Court of India, and also a Barrister and tenant at the internationally acclaimed chambers Twenty Essex. He is called to the Bar in India, Singapore and England & Wales. Nakul has deep experience and market know-how for disputes and international law advice in sectors such as international arbitration, banking and finance, construction, corporate (joint venture/shareholder/partnership disputes), international commercial law, including media and telecommunications and mining, energy and natural resources.

In the course of a 17 year career, Nakul has appeared in numerous cases before trial and appellate courts in all three jurisdictions, as well as in international arbitrations. He brings a significant level of experience as an advocate and cross examiner for complex trials, interim applications, injunctions, appellate hearings, jurisdictional disputes and enforcement matters. He is well equipped to deal with all hearings and stages of the dispute resolution process including assisting in oral and written advocacy, drafting statements of the case, skeletal arguments, witness statements, memorials, appeal documents and opinions.

Nakul has been appointed as arbitrator by the SIAC, LCIA, ICC and has extensive experience as Counsel in ad hoc and institutional arbitration proceedings.

Nicholas is a partner and head of the international arbitration practice at Bird & Bird in London.

He was previously based in Singapore, where he headed the Herbert Smith Freehills Singapore international arbitration practice between 2009-2012.

Nicholas has enjoyed a 20+ year career in international dispute resolution. He has been heavily involved acting on India-related commercial disputes for the last 15 years.

Nicholas is an English law qualified solicitor-advocate who has appeared before arbitral tribunals in Europe and Asia, as well as in the London High Court. Nicholas' work as counsel has involved advising on various industry sectors including energy, power, financial services, leisure, maritime services, telecoms, media, technology, manufacturing and consumer goods. Nicholas has also acted for and against State governments on commercial disputes.

Nicholas has sat as an arbitrator on India-related disputes in London and Singapore under various institutional rules and ad hoc.

Nicholas is a member of the Law Society of England & Wales, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), the International Bar Association (IBA), and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA).

Nish Shetty is Head of Litigation & Dispute Resolution (Asia-Pacific) for Clifford Chance. He is regarded as a leading expert in the field of dispute resolution. Nish has advised on some of the most complex cross-jurisdictional disputes in recent years in Asia Pacific. Nish is on the panel of arbitrators of the key arbitral institutions in the region. He is also the first in Asia to be appointed as a Judge of Appeal on the FIA International Court of Appeal in Paris.
Nish is ranked as a “Leading Individual” in dispute resolution by the major legal directories including Chambers, Legal 500, IFLR 1000 and is identified amongst the leading international arbitration practitioners in the world by International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration.

Ms Pallavi S. Shroff is the managing partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas with over 34 years of extensive experience. Her broad and varied representation of public and private corporations and other entities before legal institutions has earned her national and international acclaim. Ms Shroff is the lead litigation partner at the firm, with knowledge in matters of dispute resolution and arbitration.
Ms Shroff has represented several companies including Apollo Tyres, Coal India, ACC Limited and Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital (to name but a few) in competition law cases before the Competition Commission of India and the Competition Appellate Tribunal.
Ms Shroff is presently a director on the boards of prestigious Indian companies such as Apollo Tyres; Trident Group; GE Capital Services; Maruti Suzuki India Ltd; and Juniper Hotels Ltd.
Ms Shroff has been recognised in the “Most Powerful Women in Indian Business” list by Business Today for three years. For her legal acumen and thought leadership, Ms Shroff is frequently featured in several international publications. According to Chambers Asia Pacific 2015, Pallavi Shroff earns particular accolades for her work on behavioural matters, where she is considered to be “a master in her subject and very much acquainted with the procedure of the law.”
She was a key member of the high-powered SVS Raghavan committee, which contributed to formulating the legal framework for the new competition law and a draft of the new Competition Act, besides being part of the standing committee of Parliament reviewing the Competition Act 2000. 

Promod Nair is a Senior Advocate who appears regularly before the Supreme Court of India and the Karnataka, Bombay and New Delhi High Courts and a wide variety of other courts and tribunals in India. He is also admitted as a Solicitor Advocate with Higher Rights of Audience in England and Wales (currently non-practising).

He has extensive experience of appearing as counsel in complex disputes and has a wide-ranging practice encompassing commercial litigation, public law, arbitration and white-collar offences.

Promod has acted as counsel or arbitrator in over sixty domestic and international arbitrations, and has conducted arbitrations in various jurisdictions in Asia, Europe and North America and under various institutional rules such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), London Court of Arbitration (LCIA), Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). He has been appointed as arbitrator by the ICC, LCIA, SIAC, LCIA India and has also acted as emergency arbitrator. Promod has also been instructed as expert witness on Indian law in English and Hong Kong court proceedings.

Promod has represented the Republic of India in arbitrations commenced under Bilateral Investment Treaties and has also represented India at the United Nations.

Promod served as a member of the LCIA Court between 2013 and 2018. He is currently a Council Member of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (where he serves on the Proceedings Committee), a member of the Advisory Council of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration and a Governing Council Member of the International Arbitration and Mediation Centre, Hyderabad.

Promod holds degrees in law from the National Law School of India (2001) where he graduated at the top of his class and the University of Cambridge where he was awarded the Clive Parry (Overseas) Prize in International Law and DFID-Cambridge and Pegasus Scholarships. He is a Visiting Lecturer at the National Law School of India where he teaches a course on Arbitration Law and Practice.

Shaneen has over two decades of experience is qualified to practice as an advocate and solicitor in India, and also qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales.

She focuses on arbitration (both domestic and international) having represented clients in disputes administered by various international arbitral institutions as also ad hoc arbitrations.  

Shaneen is appointed as a Member of the Court of Arbitration of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the Council of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA).  She is also London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) Users Council and an ambassador of Asia Pacific Arbitration Group of the International Bar Association (IBA).

Shaneen also handles commercial litigation in disputes relating to commercial contracts, shareholder issues, infrastructure, power and construction projects, financial and structured products, infrastructure, power and construction projects and white collar crime. She has also represented clients in various courts and tribunal across India, including the NCLT, High Courts and the Supreme Court of India.

Shaneen has been recommended by Who’s Who Legal as a Future Leader in arbitration and ranked as “Most Highly Regarded (Partner)” 2021 for Arbitration in the Asia-Pacific Region.  She has also been ranked as a Notable Practitioner in Dispute Resolution by Asia Law, and was recognised as one of ALB India Top Disputes Lawyers. Shaneen is also ranked as a key lawyer for arbitration and litigation in The Legal 500, and by Chambers & Partners – Asia-Pacific – Dispute Resolution.

Shreyas Jayasimha read law at the National Law School of India University and was a Chevening Scholar at the University of Warwick. He enrolled as an Advocate in 2000. He has trained as a mediator and has been appointed arbitrator within India and internationally. Shreyas is one of the editors of the IBA mediation committee newsletter. His practice areas include litigation, dispute resolution, company law, constitutional law, intellectual property, and technology law amongst others across industrial sectors such as infrastructure, real estate, oil and gas, aviation etc.

Shreyas has been appointed as an arbitrator by international arbitral institutions such as the International Chamber of Commerce and the Dubai International Arbitration Centre. He is a member of the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy (FIAA), Geneva since 2012, and was recently made the Coordinator, UNCITRAL National Coordination Committee of India. Shreyas has been listed in the International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration since 2010 till date. Shreyas has recently been selected as the only India based practitioner by ICC FraudNet, Paris, 2015. He is also one of two Indian Members of the Task Force on “Maximising the Probative Value of Witness Evidence” of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR.

Sir Bernard Rix is a retired Lord Justice of Appeal to twenty years experience in the English Commercial Court and the English Court of Appeal. He is a member of the HKIAC Panel of Arbitrators, a member of the MOOGAS Panel of International Arbitrators and Mediators, has been appointed to the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal and to the Singapore International Commercial Court, and is an ADR Group accredited mediator. In addition, he has been appointed as Professor of International Commercial Law at Queen Mary, University of London.
As a member of the Court of Appeal, he has delivered a wide range of judgments on arbitration, aviation, banking, insurance and reinsurance, private and public international law, oil and gas, sale of goods and shipping disputes. They include significant judgments such as Dallah v. Government of Pakistan [2010] Bus LR 384 on international enforcement of arbitration awards (upheld by the Supreme Court), Kuwait Airways v. Iraqi Airways (Nos. 4 and 5) [2002] 2 AC 883 (parts 22-35 and 43-54 of the Court of Appeal judgment, upheld by the House of Lords) on international law, and R (Al-Skeini) v. Secretary of State for Defence [2007] QB 140 (upheld by the House of Lords) on the jurisdictional scope of the European Convention of Human Rights, and Yukos v. Rosneft (No 2) [2013] 1 All ER (Comm) 327, on the act of state doctrine.
At the Bar he specialised in international commercial and arbitral disputes as a barrister and latterly as an arbitrator, and also appeared in the courts of Singapore and Hong Kong. He was counsel in Mareva Compania Naviera SA v. International Bulkcarriers SA [1975] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 509, the eponymous origin of the “Mareva injunction”, now called a freezing order; in I Congreso del Partido [1983] 1 AC 244 (HL) which introduced the commercial exception to English law’s previous absolute doctrine of sovereign immunity; and in Channel Tunnel Group Ltd v. Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd [1992] 1 QB 656 (CA, affirmed in the House of Lords) concerning the operation of the arbitration clause in the contract for construction of the Channel Tunnel.

Vikram has appeared as counsel in a variety of matters concerning commercial disputes, corporate matters, economic offences, tax, shipping and arbitration. He was a partner at the head of dispute resolution in Economic Laws Practice from 2003 until his designation as Senior Advocate in September 2014.
Vikram is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), London. He is acknowledged as a leading individual practitioner in dispute resolution and litigation in India. He also regularly appears before various High Courts and the Supreme Court of India and has to his credit several landmark judgments rendered by the Courts that have been reported by various authoritative journals and reports. Vikram has also been invited as an expert lawyer on various occasions, including in foreign courts and in arbitration proceedings.
Over the years, Vikram has successfully represented the interests of several Indian and foreign clients in arbitration under ICC, UNCITRAL, LCIA, LMAA, GAFTA, SIAC, KCIAB, ICA and other ad hoc arbitrations.

Vyapak Desai heads the International Dispute Resolution and Investigation Practice at the multi-skilled, research and strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates. A senior attorney with the firm, Vyapak specializes in bringing in the highest level of analytical arrangement in cross border complex disputes while also leading the Corporate and Securities practice in the past at the firm. Known for his reasonable, pragmatic and solution-oriented approach, Vyapak is also a trained Mediator and an experienced arbitrator in international commercial arbitrations.

Vyapak’s vast experience in legislation includes representing clients as Counsel in a host of complex cases including investment treaty arbitrations, commercial disputes related to shareholders agreements, international trade and across industries such as oil & gas, infrastructure, construction, private equity funds, and TMT. The law has become more intricate and intertwined. Keeping in sync, Vyapak has cultivated expertise in insolvency and corporate law as well as in investigation/white collar crimes.

Vyapak is the Co-chair-council of MCIA, Director of CIArb India Branch, Member, Advisory Board, MARC (Mauritius), member of ICC India Group, member of IBA and IPBA. He has also been listed on the Panel of Arbitrators of SIAC, AIAC, LCIA, THIAC, BVI IAC and NCDEX (SEBI). Highlighting law as a dynamic discipline, Vyapak has also co-authored a chapter in the book titled Enforcing Arbitral Awards in India published by Lexis-Nexis 2017 in addition to writing several articles and speaking on various forum internationally.

Yoshimi Ohara is a Partner at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu. 　Her practice focuses on international arbitration, international complex litigation and mediation. She served as counsel in international arbitration in various seats under the rules of the ICC, ICSID, AAA/ICDR, SIAC and JCAA.  With a strong corporate and IP background, she has extensive experience in dealing with disputes covering a wide range of subjects, including M&A, joint ventures, infrastructure, energy, construction, insurance, joint development, technology transfer, license, sales and distribution.  She served as co-arbitrator, sole arbitrator and presiding arbitrator under auspices of the ICC, SIAC, JCAA, KCAB and UNCITRAL rules in various seats.  She helped shaping soft law in the field of international arbitration as a member of task force of professional conduct of counsel and conflicts of Interest subcommittee of IBA Arbitration Committee.  She is currently serving as a member of the ICCA Governing Board and a board member of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA) and the Japan Association of Arbitrators (JAA).