Sumeet Kachwaha

Sumeet Kachwaha is the founding partner of Kachwaha & Partners, a leading cross-border disputes; dispute resolution practice. He has over 43 years’ experience in the legal profession mainly in arbitration, litigation, construction & infrastructure projects, corporate and commercial laws. He has handled many landmark and high-stake matters (including the Union Carbide (Bhopal Gas Leak) case as a junior counsel. This was then the largest damages case in the world (arising out of the worst industrial accident known to mankind).

Mr. Kachwaha has been appointed sole arbitrator by the High Court of Delhi in several arbitrations and serves on the panel of arbitrators of various international arbitration institutions. He has also served as amicus curiae to the High Court of Delhi (including in relation to the first BIT dispute to come up before Indian courts). He has also stood as an expert witness on Indian law in the Courts of England and Singapore.

Mr. Kachwaha has been recognised in Band One of the Arbitration Section of Chambers Asia since 2009. He also features in Who’s Who Legal in the Construction, Procurement, Arbitration, Government Contracts and Asset Recovery sections and has a Band One Ranking in the Dispute Resolution section of The Legal 500 Asia Pacific. He also features in GAR’s Who’s Who Legal Arbitration section and ranks in IBL’s “A List” of “India Top 35 Lawyers”.

Mr. Kachwaha has been extensively involved both on the contentious and non-contentious side in representing clients on high stake projects on procurement and corruption related matters, including in related litigation before the High Court and Supreme Court of India.

Mr. Kachwaha has previously served as a Chair of the Dispute Resolution & Arbitration Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (three - year term) and as the Vice-President of the Asian Pacific Regional Arbitration Group (“APRAG”). He has also served as Co-Chair of the Project Execution sub-committee of the International Construction Committee, IBA. He is currently serving on the Advisory Board of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (now known as the Asian International Arbitration Centre).

Mr. Kachwaha’s academic writings have been referenced by the Law Commission of India in its Report dated February 2015 [Supplementary to Report No. 246 on Amendments to Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996]. He has also authored the Public Procurement Chapter published by Getting the Deal Through (2018), Chapter on Public Procurement review proceedings in India (Getting the Deal Through (2019) and International Public Procurement – A guide to Best Practice (Globe Law & Business, UK).