Boutique by Design - International by Instinct
Nikita is a dual-qualified Solicitor specialising in international arbitration and related court proceedings. She has comprehensive experience in international commercial, construction, and investment arbitrations with the ICC, LCIA, SIAC, ICSID, and SCC, and several prominent seats including London, Paris, Singapore, Geneva, and the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Nikita has worked on construction and energy arbitrations arising out of projects in Asia, Latin America, North Africa, India, and the Middle East. Project examples include offshore wind, solar, natural gas extraction, mining of non-metallic minerals, manufacture of maritime vessels, and construction of mixed-use real estate projects.
Before joining Hamish Lal Partners, Nikita worked at the Paris and London offices of a leading boutique arbitration practice. She worked as an Associate in the disputes practices of reputed Mumbai-based law firms. She was engaged as Tribunal Secretary for the SACU-Safeguards arbitration between the European Union and Southern African Customs Union. She acted as a research assistant for a prominent public international law specialist and contributed to seminal Oxford and Cambridge University Press publications on topics including mixed claims commissions and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (rebus sic stantibus). She has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals including:
The US Supreme Court has been asked to clarify the legal regime governing non-signatories to arbitration agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act. In particular, the Court is now asked to resolve whether state law principles of equitable estoppel apply to a claim to extend an arbitration agreement, or whether “federal common law” derived from a […]
Apportionment of liability amongst participants in an unincorporated joint venture is complex. Such complexity is increased when one participant is in dispute with the joint venture and the absence of arbitration joinder means that there are two arbitrations. This gives rise to questions of the boundary of jurisdiction of each Tribunal and to questions about […]
Arbitral awards are rarely set aside. In DWL v DWM,[1] the Singapore High Court dismissed an application to set-aside an arbitral award for excess of jurisdiction or breach of natural justice. Eminent judges have been clear “there is a difference between, on the one hand, a party having no opportunity to address a point or […]
In JKD and anor v IKC,[1] the English High Court dismissed a challenge under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 to an arbitral Order refusing to restrain a call on a bond. This is another important case because it reinforces the thinking that section 68 challenges apply only to Awards (not arbitral Orders) and […]
In DSS v DST,[1] the Singapore High Court found that an award, where 108 out of the 211 paragraphs were wholesale or substantial reproductions of excerpts from a related award, was not rendered in breach of natural justice. The Claimant said that the reproductions were not limited to reciting of uncontroversial procedural matters but “extend […]
In TTSJV W.L.L and others v BapCo Refining B.S.C (TTSJV),[1] the English High Court dismissed an application for an injunction against a bond call. Applications to restrain bond calls are difficult, given the high threshold. London has reaffirmed the position that a call on an ‘on-demand’ bond can only be restrained in cases of fraud […]
