Economic Laws Practice

A new entry in the GAR 100 this year, ELP is benefiting from India’s fast-growing international arbitration market

Economic Laws Practice was formed in 2001. Its arbitration practice was launched four years later, headed by lawyers who had built a reputation in tax disputes work.

In the early days, the firm reports, clients used to say: “We thought you only did tax litigation.” Now they’re likely to say: “Do you know someone who does tax litigation?”

Originally, the practice didn’t deal with disputes worth more than US$20,000. Nowadays, the figure can range from US$10 million to several hundred million dollars. Its clients are in sectors as diverse as mining, commodities, engineering and construction, shipping, insurance, infrastructure, and equipment and services.

It has conducted arbitrations in India, England, Singapore, South Korea, Germany and the US under a variety of international laws and institutional rules.

Network

The practice is led by senior partner Vikram Nankani in Mumbai. It has 15 lawyers spread between the New Delhi and Mumbai offices, though the practice is largely Mumbai-driven. In New Delhi, the main partner in the group is Tarun Gulati. The firm also has offices in Ahmedabad and Pune.

Who uses it?

The firm has been instructed by some of India’s large business houses – including Tata (in disputes with Aditya Birla Group and Idea Telecom), Hiranandani (in a complex arbitration under Indian law involving a claim for US$700 million) and Reliance.

All of Adani Group’s arbitrations are conducted by ELP, whether in the coal and carbon, commodities or oil and gas sectors.

Multinational clients include engineering and construction group McDermott and Sterlite Technologies, which is a subsdiary of Vedanta oil and gas group.

It is acting for British Gas and Reliance Industries (an unincorporated joint venture) in a US$2.5 billion UNCITRAL dispute with the government of India, as co-counsel with Allen & Overy, one of several international law firms it has teamed up with. The dispute arises out of production-sharing contracts that Reliance and BG’s predecessor, Enron, executed with the government and the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp in 1994, granting the three companies joint operatorship of oil fields off the coast of Mumbai.

Track record

The firm’s reported successes before the ICC include representing India’s largest metal and mining company in a product liability claim against a German company; a Swiss multinational coal trader in a dispute with a Singapore subsidiary of India’s largest coal trader; and one of the largest Indian engineering companies in a dispute over a US$200 million EPC contract awarded in Singapore.

It has also successfully represented India’s largest privately owned port in an ad hoc arbitration under English law against a state-owned insurance company – the first major insurance claim under a port package policy in India – and a manufacturer of oil and gas exploration and production equipment in an ad hoc arbitration with a government enterprise over a contract for the supply of production platforms.

A case on behalf of one of the parties to a US$50 million split that involved a complex web of cross-holdings in shareholdings and properties also led to an ELP victory.

In court, it recently succeeded in defending the joinder of a third party to an arbitration agreement in a Singapore arbitration by invoking “alter ego” principles. The third party had moved the Indian court to suspend the arbitration.

It also acted for an Indian client in arbitration-related court proceedings in London, securing an important breather in the multi-jurisdictional case that paved the way for a settlement.

Recent events

In 2012, the firm promoted Madhur Baya and Naresh Thacker to the partnership in Mumbai. Baya is one of the co-founders of the practice back in 2005.

The practice has also seen the arrival of associates from a rival Indian law firm and LCIA India.