GAP HEADNOTE SERIES – EPISODE 5: PAKISTAN
Episode 5 (23 MARCH 2023) featured a discussion of the Pakistan Supreme Court decision in Hitachi limited v. Rupali Polyester 1998 SCMR 1918, as part of our ‘A Case in Time’ Headnote series.
Umer Akram Chaudhry, Asad Ladha and Ramsha Banuri of Raja Mohammed Akram & Co. (RMA & Co.), the authors of the GAP chapter on Pakistan, considered a case on the law governing the arbitration agreement, followed by comments from Nikhil Desai of JMiles & Co. (short bios of the speakers below) and a Q&A with the participants.
ABOUT THE GAP AND THE SPEAKERS
The Delos Guide to Arbitration Places (GAP) is designed to assist in-house counsel, corporate lawyers and arbitration practitioners with efficiently accessing key insights into a large range of jurisdictions, including for the purposes of negotiating the choice of arbitral seats and conducting arbitral proceedings in those jurisdictions.
This peer-reviewed open access publication is now in its second edition. Browse the table of contents, explore the jurisdictions covered in the GAP or jump to the traffic lights table.
Umer Akram Chaudhry is an Advocate of the High Court in Pakistan and Attorney at Law in New York. He has strong expertise in cross-border dispute resolution engaging public and private international laws and a rich experience of practice before international forums in international litigations, arbitrations, and mediations. During the course of his practice, Umer has been engaged in and represented clients in a diverse range of disputes in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia. His core practice areas are investment, commercial, construction, and energy infrastructure disputes. He is well versed in the rules of major arbitral centres such as ICC, LCIA, SIAC, and HKIAC. He also has a solid experience in enforcement of arbitral awards in multiple jurisdictions under the New York Convention. He teaches a course on international commercial arbitration at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
Nikhil Desai, specialises in international arbitration, dispute resolution, fraud and asset chasing and has an extensive background in Commercial, Civil and Public Law litigation in Kenya.He has represented clients in various international arbitration tribunals, the High Court of Kenya and the Court of Appeal of Kenya. Nikhil is fluent in English and Gujarati.
Asad Ladha, is an Advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan and was called to the Bar (Lincoln’s Inn) in 2009. After the completion of his legal studies Asad practiced as a litigation lawyer in London, focusing on Civil Litigation. In addition, Asad also acted as a Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Justice, UK. In addition to his domestic corporate practice which includes both contentious and non-contentious work, Asad acts for a number of Chinese companies with respect to their operations in Pakistan. He currently represents the biggest clean energy group in China both in contentious and non-contentious matters. Asad also currently acts for a major Chinese oil and gas development company in a substantial tax dispute with the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) arising out of an EPCC Contract for an LPG Gas Processing Plant in Pakistan. In addition, he is currently instructed by a Chinese EPCC Contractor in ongoing arbitration proceedings in relation to the imposition of Liquidated Damages on the EPCC Contractor.
