Counsel
Aditya Singh Chauhan
Counsel · Onyx Legal · Dubai
Aditya Singh Chauhan
Counsel · Onyx Legal
Aditya Singh Chauhan is Founder and Managing Counsel of Onyx Legal. The practice is concentrated in international commercial disputes — litigation before the DIFC and ADGM Courts, and arbitration under the leading institutional rules — with emphasis on urgent relief, cross-border enforcement, and matters at the intersection of public and commercial law.
He trained at two of India's leading commercial firms — AZB & Partners and Khaitan & Co — and then at M&Co Legal in Dubai. His work has spanned the DIFC Courts, the DIFC Court of Appeal, the ADGM Courts, the Indian High Courts, and the Supreme Court of India, and arbitrations administered by DIAC, LCIA, SIAC, arbitrateAD, and under the UNCITRAL Rules.
Onyx Legal was founded for narrow practice and direct conduct.
By appointment.
The Practice
— i.
In outline.
Forums
DIFC Courts · DIFC Court of Appeal · ADGM Courts · Indian High Courts · Supreme Court of India · DIAC · LCIA · SIAC · arbitrateAD · UNCITRAL Rules
Focus
Urgent injunctive relief · worldwide freezing orders · anti-suit and anti-enforcement · jurisdiction challenges · document production and disclosure · trial and appellate advocacy · cross-border enforcement · digital-asset and on-chain disputes · sovereign-adjacent matters
Selected Matters
— ii.
Ten matters, each handled directly.
DIFC·ADGM·Arbitration
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i.Acted for the claimant in an industrial joint-venture deadlock — ex parte interim relief obtained within twenty-four hours of filing, the continuation hearing carried, the discharge application defeated; on continued breach, anti-suit relief obtained against parallel onshore Abu Dhabi proceedings and committal pursued; successive permission-to-appeal applications refused at the appellate level, with substantial costs awarded; the dispute referred and continued to DIAC arbitration.DIFC · DIAC
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ii.Acted for the claimant on the continuation of a worldwide freezing order in support of a foreign arbitral award — the order carried at the return-date hearing (with geographic variation), the set-aside application dismissed.DIFC · WFO
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iii.Defended a high-value commercial dispute — default judgment set aside, pleadings closed on a counterclaim, a Part 28 production order obtained against the claimant calibrated to the underlying workshop, strategy and brand-audit deliverables, factual witness evidence exchanged, and the matter brought to trial.DIFC · Trial
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iv.Conducted the defence of five defendants in a multi-party digital-asset dispute — on-chain tracing across decentralised liquidity, lending, and perpetual-futures protocols; defences and replies filed, the further-information application defeated, three rounds of disclosure prosecuted, mediation conducted, and single-joint-expert appointment carried forward.ADGM · Defence
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v.Advised on discrete UAE-law aspects of a defence at trial — another firm led the trial; subsequently led the successful application for renewed permission to appeal before the Chief Justice on questions of deceit, agency, the entire-agreement clause, and time-bar; amended grounds filed, skeletons exchanged.DIFC Court of Appeal
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vi.Brought one of the first derivative claims before the DIFC Courts — non-circumvention dispute on conflict-of-laws; Claim Form drafted, permission application filed with supporting witness evidence; resolved by pre-trial settlement.DIFC · Derivative
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vii.Defended a franchise dispute brought before DIAC under purported Decree 34 succession to a legacy DIFC-LCIA arbitration clause; the tribunal held it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the claim; the favourable award then recognised and enforced before the DIFC Courts, with full costs awarded.DIAC · DIFC
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viii.Secured an RDC Part 28 production order against multiple respondents in aid of enforcement; the variation application defended and dismissed with indemnity-basis costs.DIFC · Enforcement
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ix.Led the jurisdictional and admissibility objection in a UAE-seated commercial arbitration on UAE branch-office corporate-law grounds — the named respondent held not party to the arbitration agreement, a prior legal notice insufficient to cure; the challenge succeeded, with 80% of arbitration costs apportioned to the claimant.arbitrateAD
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x.Acted for a regional media operator in a cross-border commercial dispute — negotiations carried to a bespoke settlement through deed of release, waiver, and indemnity, with no formal proceedings commenced.Cross-border · Pre-arbitral
Other matters available on application.
Selected Matters
— iii.
Earlier work, carried forward.
India·Corridor
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i.Represented a foreign investor in a multi-trenched cross-border dispute — fraud and oppression proceedings carried through NCLT, NCLAT and the Supreme Court of India; in parallel, enforcement of a Singapore-seated arbitral award before the High Court with impleadment of non-signatories at the enforcement stage; defence against SFIO-led white-collar proceedings and retaliatory criminal complaints; resolved by favourable settlement.NCLT · NCLAT · SCI
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ii.Defended an engineering contractor against a suit for mandatory injunction concerning a national-importance infrastructure project monitored by the Prime Minister's Office.Delhi High Court
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iii.Conducted a landmark Section 37 appeal before a Division Bench on the legality and arbitrability of put-option clauses in share-purchase agreements.Bombay High Court
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iv.Advised on a complex family-settlement transaction — the second largest of its kind in India by deal value — touching on the arbitrability of public-trust disputes, trademark allocations, specific relief, and the architecture of multi-entity unwinds.India · Settlement
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v.Negotiated and drafted the full instrument suite — hotel development, hotel management, technical services, and licensing agreements — for a flagship upper-upscale hotel and serviced residences development between one of India's largest infrastructure developers and a leading international luxury hospitality brand; USD 250 million in deal value.India · Hospitality
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vi.Negotiated multi-instrument transaction suites for several upper-upscale and luxury palace hotels and resorts across India — owner-side principals opposite international hotel brands — across engagements from INR 1.5 billion to INR 5 billion.India · Hospitality
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vii.Negotiated an INR 3.6 billion construction contract for an Indian manufacturing plant of a leading German manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles.India · Construction
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viii.Advised an infrastructure SPV on the legal architecture of political and non-political force-majeure claims in a major highway and tunnelling project.India · Infrastructure
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ix.Advised a strategic shipbuilder on a Ministry-of-Defence procurement of submarine assets.India · Defence
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x.Advised on the enforcement of foreign awards, judgments and decrees in India — including under the Geneva Convention, from non-reciprocating territories, and the impact of Russian anti-sanctions legislation (the Lugovoy framework).India · Enforcement
Advisory & Opinions
— iv.
UAE-law opinions for foreign proceedings.
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i.Worked on a UAE-law opinion deployed in proceedings before the Singapore courts, on possessory pledges over a substantial cargo of low-sulphur fuel oil — addressing the transitional interaction between the UAE Civil Code, the Movables Security Law, and the bona-fide-purchaser doctrine. Singapore High Court
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ii.Contributed to the finalisation of the UAE-law expert opinion deployed in a major investment-treaty arbitration on the constitutional and federal-energy-law implications of the underlying dispute. Permanent Court of Arbitration
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iii.Contributed to affidavits for proceedings before the Cayman Islands Grand Court on UAE penal-law, AML, and mutual-cooperation provisions — including the extraterritorial reach of the Penal Code and the tipping-off regime. Cayman Islands Grand Court
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iv.Worked on a UAE-law cost-assessment opinion in long-running DIFC proceedings. DIFC · Cost Assessment
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v.Contributed DIFC public-policy research and exhibits to an opinion on foreign-award enforcement strategy in a telecommunications dispute. DIFC · Public Policy
Writing & Policy
— v.
Outside the file.
Roles & Reform
- Strategic Advisor, MiAI Law.
- Director, Greenstay Resorts Pvt. Ltd.
- Assistance to Government of India expert committees on the establishment of the International Arbitration Centre at GIFT City, and on the reform of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
- Former Editor-in-Chief, Indian Journal of Arbitration Law (Volume 10, Issues 1 and 2).
Speaking & Interviews
- Hosted, 6th CARTAL Conference.
- Guest lecture on landmark arbitration judgments and careers in arbitration, National Law University Delhi.
- Moderated, NLU Jodhpur × IIT Jodhpur panel on Legal Analytics (NLP).
- Moderated, Arbitrator Intelligence × KCAB × SIAC panel on arbitrator-appointment tools.
- Judged, Courts of Space Moot — DIFC Courts × Dubai Future Foundation.
- Interview — A Day in the Life of Aditya Singh Chauhan, Associate at M&Co Legal.
Selected Writing
- Chapter, Law on Termination of Construction Contracts, in Handbook on Construction Law and Arbitration.
- From Past to Present: An Analysis of DIFC Courts' Evolution — with Mahmood Hussain and Tariq Khan.
- Cold War on International Arbitration: Unilateral Economic Sanctions Eroding the Rule of Law.
- Assessing the Benefits and Limitations of AI Integration in International Arbitration.
- Pushing Arbitral Boundaries to Pave Way for Emergency Arbitration.
- Change to Improve, Not to Unhinge — A Critique of the Indian Approach to Arbitration.
- Recourse Against Arbitral Awards in India: Navigating Murky Waters.
- Further commentary in the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Spain Arbitration Review, and Bar & Bench.
The record
— vi.
By the numbers (substantive work only).
Includes work undertaken before Onyx Legal was founded.
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Litigation
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Settlement Discussions
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Contracts Negotiated
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Advisory
The lawyer instructed is the lawyer who runs the file.
Confidentiality is absolute. Clients are not named and instructions are not discussed.
Direct
info@onyxlegal.ae
Consultations
By appointment only
Onyx Legal
Dubai