Six-year-old Singularity Legal has a unique business model, billing itself as an Asia and Africa-focused law firm specialising in international dispute resolution. Unlike conventional domestic firms that focus on legal services governed by Indian law, Singularity handles only international cross-border disputes and acts based on the various countries’ governing laws and transnational laws. The boutique law firm has developed a strong track record for handling transnational disputes, unearthing frauds, obtaining injunctive reliefs and assisting in debt recovery. This year the firms climbs up a notch in the commercial disputes ranking. The most significant development in the past year was that the firm received its licence to practise before the courts at Dubai International Financial Centre, becoming the very first Indian firm to be Part-I registered solicitors at this forum. Lead partner Prateek Bagaria has also been registered as a Part-II lawyer with full rights of audience before the DIFC Courts.
Since its inception, the firm has handled claims of more than $4 billion in cross-border conflicts across various sectors, including energy and resources, construction and infrastructure, international trade, and sports and entertainment. It is a cross-disciplinary, one-stop dispute resolution shop for high-stakes, complex international litigations and arbitrations. To date, the firm has worked on contentious matters in India, Israel, Indonesia, Nigeria, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Turkey and the UAE. The firm hopes to shift its headquarters in the near future to Singapore and provide end-to-end transnational dispute services. The firm is a pioneer in frontier areas of dispute resolution, such as digital asset dispute resolution, recovery and enforcement and litigation finance.
The firm is additionally very active for global litigation funders, including one on its investments in an Indian-related construction portfolio, and another on its investment in a dispute relating to the construction of a Saudi Arabia-based oil and gas facility.
Bagaria is the key contact. His practice focuses on international arbitration, construction disputes, and commercial and corporate litigation.
Although nearly all the firm’s submitted mandates are highly confidential, one disclosable matter is a
pro bono case involving Indian athletes. Bagaria and his team recently successfully assisted three Indian powerlifters and a retired coach in overturning an illegal provisional suspension that was based on flagrant violations of international testing norms. The impact on the athletes was significant, as they had been prevented from competing in sports for almost two years in the prime of their careers, without even an opportunity to represent against such provisional suspension. The effect of the constitutional challenge to the rules will also be felt across Indian sports. The rules apply to athletes and athlete support personnel across the country.
