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 maxim of ne ultra petita is well-understood. But, Tribunals also enjoy discretion to conduct arbitrations efficiently. What happens when these two concepts clash? What if the parties do not seek a particular relief, but a tribunal orders it believing such relief aids efficiency? The Paris Court of Appeal considered the above in Tecnimont […]
The Singapore High Court in DRL v DRK [2026] SGHC 32 upheld an Award rendered by a SIAC-administered arbitral tribunal which had terminated an arbitration on the basis that it was impossible to proceed with the arbitration due to sanctions. The situation is nuanced. We say this because – different to Singapore – Courts in […]
Hamish Lal was the Presiding Arbitrator of a Tribunal that also included Sir Patterson Cheltenham (former Chief Justice of Barbados) and Ms Vicki Telford B. Arch, MBC, FCIArb, RA, BIA. The Tribunal sat at the University of the West Indies on 26 February 2026 at the Final Hearing of the Berrys International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition […]
Hamish Lal has been Author of Part A of the Manual of Construction Agreements, published by LexisNexis, since 2015. The Manual of Construction Agreements is a comprehensive guide to the law and practice governing construction contracts, with a focus on the major standard form agreements. Part A provides an in‑depth analysis of the relevant areas […]
Hamish Lal has been both General Editor and the International Case Note Editor of the Construction Law Journal, published by Sweet & Maxwell, since 2022. Ece Tahan is Editorial Assistant of the Construction Law Journal. The Construction Law Journal provides an authoritative forum to which construction law professionals can turn for guidance, comment, and informed […]
Case law on FIDIC Contracts is always instructive. In Uniform Building Contractors Ltd v Water and Sewerage Authority of Trinidad and Tobago [2026] UKPC 2, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council looked at the FIDIC Yellow Book (1999 Edition). The Judgment provides authoritative guidance on (i) the proper analysis of variations; (ii) the limits […]
