Moves – November 16, 2016

ELP has added Akshay Kishore as an associate partner in Mumbai to strengthen its alternate dispute resolution offering. He is currently a senior associate with the arbitration team of Ashurst in Singapore, where he has been working for the past five years. Prior to that, he worked with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London and AZB & Partners in Mumbai. Kishore has experience advising on disputes in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Australia and Sri Lanka. He represented Interpid Mines in the largest arbitration claim ever filed at the SIAC.

Kochhar & Co has added Gautam Bhatikar as senior partner and co-head of the Mumbai office. Prior to joining the firm, he was a partner with ALMT Legal. With more than 15 years’ experience, Bhatikar specialises in maritime and shipping, insurance and dispute resolution. In addition to expanding the maritime practice, he will also be spending time at the Dubai office to develop the international commercial arbitration practice of the firm in the region. His admiralty practice includes both dry and wet shipping, and he regularly advises on disputes pertaining to mortgage claims, bills of lading, charter parties, ship building and ship repair contracts, collision and limitation of liability, salvage, general average and marine pollution. He has also represented several multinational and reputed domestic clients on complex maritime and offshore projects. In addition to handling complex commercial disputes across various courts of India, Bhatikar also specialises in both domestic and international commercial arbitration and has represented several clients in complex commercial disputes under the auspices of major arbitral institutions.