NLU-educated lawyer Vivekananda Neelakantan has been promoted as partner at top Singaporean firm Allen & Gledhill, which the former Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) deputy registrar from India had joined as international counsel in 2014.

He specialises in international arbitration and cross-border disputes, and while at Allen & Gledhill has acted for a variety of Asian companies according to his firm profile, including:

• a "$20m Singapore seated arbitration against an Indian joint venture partner including in emergency arbitrator proceedings and advising on related Indian litigation”, and
• acting for the Singaporean subsidiary of “an Indian trading house in three separate expedited procedure arbitrations against its commodities trading partners”.

His promotion to “foreign law” partner, took effect on 15 March 2019.

Neelakantan is a 2006 NLSIU Bangalore graduate who had begun his career at Luthra & Luthra, followed by two years with Supreme Court senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan.

In 2011, he had joined SIAC and in 2013 set up the arbitration centre’s Mumbai office.

Neelakantan is the 12th Indian LLB-educated lawyer promotion at an international firm we’ve reported since 2017 (and the sixth from NLSIU).