Hiroo Advani

He completed my schooling from Cathedral & John Connon High School, Bombay and graduated with a Gold Medal from Bombay University in 1970. He obtained his Masters Degree in Law from the University of Cambridge, UK. Advani & Company has evolved into the leading name in arbitration in India. He specializes in domestic and international arbitration. He has been the lead counsel in large number of international arbitrations under different arbitration rules such as the LCIA, Swedish Arbitration Association, the ICC, Singapore Association of Arbitration (SIAC) and Zurich Chamber of Commerce. He has conducted, as Lead Counsel a wide range of arbitrations in a variety of fields, including, construction projects, infrastructure, Power Projects, Oil Refineries, Metro/Rail Contracts, conventional sources of power generation and renewable sources of power. He was invited by the High Court of Bombay to be a Senior Counsel but chose to decline the honour as I wished to continue to be the Managing Partner of the law firm as the Bar Council of India requires Senior Counsel to be independent of any law firm. He has significant experience in arbitration relating to the oil and gas sector, specifically Offshore Oil & Gas. He has acted and continue to act for the main global players on oil and gas side including Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Subsea7, NPCC and several others. I have also acted for a number of Indian Companies such as Dolphin Offshore, Great Eastern Offshore, Naik Services, and several others. As oil reserves in India are mainly owned by the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the bulk of these claims have been against ONGC. In India, enforcement of Awards and Foreign Decrees are considered onerous, as it is difficult to locate assets of the Defendants and thus to attach the said assets. Over the years this has become a significant area of practice in which he have successfully enforced International Awards & Foreign Decrees. Importantly he has been able to enforce the same within a reasonable time frame. Advani & Company has consistently been placed in Band I in the Chambers & Partners Directory for arbitration on an all India basis. In the Chambers Directory 2013 it was noted, “he has a fantastic success rate.” Apart from the arbitrations, it is emphasized that ONGC does challenge almost all the Awards in the court of law and he has successfully defended and enforced these awards from the High Court all the way to the Supreme Court of India. Presently he has a number of on-going enforcement issues.

Recent Awards & Honours:-

• Ranked in ‘Band I’ for arbitrations on an all India basis by Chambers & Partners, a prestigious legal publication.
• In 2017, the India Business Law Journal awarded the firm the “Best Dispute Resolution” law firm in India and ‘A List’ of lawyers.
• Global Law Experts, Who’s Who of Lawyers, Legal 500 and several other publications continue to rank Advani & Company as ‘Band I’ for dispute resolution.
• Currently the President of the Indian Arbitration Forum, a grouping of the largest law firms in India.
• Member of the Court of the Singapore Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
• Invited by a large number of organizations, both locally and internationally to speak on the different aspects of arbitration one of the only three lawyers in the country asked to address sitting Supreme Court Judges on Arbitration.

He completed my schooling from Cathedral & John Connon High School, Bombay and graduated with a Gold Medal from Bombay University in 1970. He obtained his Masters Degree in Law from the University of Cambridge, UK. Advani & Company has evolved into the leading name in arbitration in India. He specializes in domestic and international arbitration. He has been the lead counsel in large number of international arbitrations under different arbitration rules such as the LCIA, Swedish Arbitration Association, the ICC, Singapore Association of Arbitration (SIAC) and Zurich Chamber of Commerce. He has conducted, as Lead Counsel a wide range of arbitrations in a variety of fields, including, construction projects, infrastructure, Power Projects, Oil Refineries, Metro/Rail Contracts, conventional sources of power generation and renewable sources of power. He was invited by the High Court of Bombay to be a Senior Counsel but chose to decline the honour as I wished to continue to be the Managing Partner of the law firm as the Bar Council of India requires Senior Counsel to be independent of any law firm. He has significant experience in arbitration relating to the oil and gas sector, specifically Offshore Oil & Gas. He has acted and continue to act for the main global players on oil and gas side including Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Subsea7, NPCC and several others. I have also acted for a number of Indian Companies such as Dolphin Offshore, Great Eastern Offshore, Naik Services, and several others. As oil reserves in India are mainly owned by the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the bulk of these claims have been against ONGC. In India, enforcement of Awards and Foreign Decrees are considered onerous, as it is difficult to locate assets of the Defendants and thus to attach the said assets. Over the years this has become a significant area of practice in which he have successfully enforced International Awards & Foreign Decrees. Importantly he has been able to enforce the same within a reasonable time frame. Advani & Company has consistently been placed in Band I in the Chambers & Partners Directory for arbitration on an all India basis. In the Chambers Directory 2013 it was noted, “he has a fantastic success rate.” Apart from the arbitrations, it is emphasized that ONGC does challenge almost all the Awards in the court of law and he has successfully defended and enforced these awards from the High Court all the way to the Supreme Court of India. Presently he has a number of on-going enforcement issues.

Recent Awards & Honours:-

• Ranked in ‘Band I’ for arbitrations on an all India basis by Chambers & Partners, a prestigious legal publication.
• In 2017, the India Business Law Journal awarded the firm the “Best Dispute Resolution” law firm in India and ‘A List’ of lawyers.
• Global Law Experts, Who’s Who of Lawyers, Legal 500 and several other publications continue to rank Advani & Company as ‘Band I’ for dispute resolution.
• Currently the President of the Indian Arbitration Forum, a grouping of the largest law firms in India.
• Member of the Court of the Singapore Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
• Invited by a large number of organizations, both locally and internationally to speak on the different aspects of arbitration one of the only three lawyers in the country asked to address sitting Supreme Court Judges on Arbitration.