Umer Akram Chaudhry

Practice Areas

Dispute Resolution: General Commercial (Pakistan)

Corporate/Commercial

Projects, Infrastructure & Energy

Employment

Career

Umer Akram Chaudhry has over fourteen years of experience in handling a wide array of work in dispute resolution, transactional, and advisory practices. His primary focus is on domestic and international dispute resolution. He has appeared as counsel before a variety of fora ranging from the Lahore High Court and the High Court of Sindh to international commercial courts and arbitral tribunals in litigations and arbitrations.

Umer has been engaged in landmark constitutional cases before the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He represented clients in regulatory matters before the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the Competition Commission of Pakistan.

He has a vibrant international disputes practice and has been engaged in cases arising from different common and civil law jurisdictions. He was primarily involved in commercial, joint venture, shareholders, and energy infrastructure disputes.

Umer maintains an active advisory and transactional practice. He regularly advises businesses with respect to regulatory risks and affairs and represent them before regulatory bodies in Pakistan. He has acted for clients in complex contractual negotiations, drafting, and execution and advised them during the performance stages and in settlement discussions.

Professional Memberships

New York State Bar

Punjab Bar Council

Work Highlights

Representing a United States based company against a public listed company in Pakistan in relation to recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award of around US$ 2 million issued under the auspices of the International Centre of Dispute Resolution in the United States before the Lahore High Court

Representing a public listed company from Pakistan against a UAE-based company in relation to recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award of around US$ 6 million issued under the auspices of the London Court of International Arbitration in London before the Lahore High Court

Representing a State-owned enterprise from China against a public listed company in Pakistan in relation to recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award of around US$ 5 million issued under the auspices of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre in Singapore before the High Court of Sindh

Representing a public company from Pakistan against a United States based company in relation to recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award of around US$ 4.5 million issued under the rules of the DIFC-LCIA Rules in the Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai, UAE before the Lahore High Court

Acting as a member of the dispute adjudication board in a construction dispute of around US$ 30 million between a Pakistani employer and a Chinese contractor arising from EPC Contract (based on FIDIC standard form contract) governed by the laws of Pakistan

Represented an independent power purchaser against a public sector company in relation to recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award of around PKR 800 million issued under the auspices of the London Court of International Arbitration in London before the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan

Represented a Singapore company against a consortium of private equity firms in two arbitrations under the SIAC Rules in Singapore for an estimated claim and counter-claim of around US$600 million, involving construction of two major power projects in a South Asian country, arising from shareholders’ agreements governed by Singapore law

Representing a global oil and gas consultancy from Singapore in proceedings initiated by Pakistan-based petroleum concessionaries in relation to a consultancy agreement before the High Court of Sindh

Represented a leading manufacturer of large diesel engines and propulsion systems and distributed power generation plants from Germany and its regional distributor in Middle East in proceedings related to the termination of service partnership agreement with the local service partner in Pakistan before the High Court of Sindh

Languages Spoken

English, Urdu, Punjabi

Education

Awards