Arbitrators at 24 Lincoln's Inn Fields

Gourab Banerji, Senior Advocate (India and London)

Gourab Banerji, Senior Advocate (India and London)

Gourab was called to the Bar in England and Wales in 1990 and also developed his practice before the Supreme Court of India as Senior Counsel with an emphasis on commercial matters, and particularly commercial arbitration.  He also has experience of competition, along with other aspects of corporate transactions like mergers and acquisitions and private equity.  He is a Senior Advocate practising primarily in the Supreme Court of India and specialises in domestic and international arbitration. He read law at Cambridge University where he was a Bundy Scholar and won the Norah Hunter Dias Prize, eventually graduating with First Class Honours. He was designated a Senior Advocate in 2003 and has served as the Additional Solicitor General of India from 2009 to 2014.

He was recognized as a leading Senior Advocate in the category of ‘Dispute Resolution, Supreme Court of India’ by Chambers and Partners in 2021 and has appeared in several high stake and complex matters, including commercial and investment treaty arbitrations, and has also been appointed as an arbitrator in various international commercial arbitrations seated in India and abroad, including most recently by the Supreme Court of India.

He has appeared in cases involving the scope of a court’s power while appointing an arbitrator, scope of a court’s interference with an arbitral award, levy of interest on arbitral awards, validity of multi-tier arbitral clauses, territorial jurisdiction in enforcement of arbitral awards, and validity of emergency awards, among others.

He is often asked by the Supreme Court to assist as amicus in diverse areas. He was recently appointed the amicus curiae by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in NN Global Mercantile Pvt Ltd. v. Indo Unique Flame, C.A No.3802-03 of 2020, on the issue of enforceability of arbitration agreements contained in an unstamped contract. He had also been appointed amicus curiae by the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Vedanta Ltd [(2020) 10 SCC 1] which related to the enforcement of a foreign award in India. Presently, he is assisting the Supreme Court on the issue of viva voce interviews in public employment.

A National Correspondent of India for the UNCITRAL CLOUT system and the Vice Chairman of the UNCITRAL National Coordination Committee for India, he is presently a Member of the Chamber of Arbitration of the India International Arbitration Centre set up under the India International Arbitration Centre Act, 2019. He has also been nominated as a member of the Ministry of Law & Justice’s expert committee for examining the working of arbitration law in India and recommending reforms in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

English

International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)International Court of Arbitration

London Court of International Arbitration

Mauritius International Arbitration Centre

Mumbai International Arbitration Centre

Barrister; M.A. Cantab (Law Tripos), 1st Class;

Bundy Scholar, Norah Hunter Dias Prize in law;

Magdalene College, Cambridge University;

Call to the Bar in 1990 (Lincoln’s Inn)

Practising before the Supreme Court and High Courts of India since 1989

Designated a Senior Advocate (equivalent of a Q.C. in England with similar restrictions) in December 2003.

Overseas Associate, Essex Court Chambers