Vanshaj accepts instructions across all areas of commercial law. His recent experience includes:

• Mercuria Energy v The Baltic Exchange – acting for the claimant in proceedings challenging the assessment of the TD3C benchmark, a key freight index for the international shipping market, following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the hostilities in the Middle East Gulf (on a team led by Lord Wolfson KC and Tony Singla KC)
• NMC Health plc v EY – acting for Ernst & Young in a claim before the Commercial Court related to a fraud allegedly perpetrated by the majority shareholders and senior management of a Gulf-based healthcare group (on a team led by Laurence Rabinowitz KC and Thomas Plewman KC)
• Acting for a prominent international manufacturer of rubber conveyor belts in confidential proceedings in the AIFC Court Kazakhstan seeking to set aside a multi-million dollar arbitral award (led by Graham Dunning KC)
• Al Aggad v Al Aggad and others – acting for one of the defendants in a claim before the Commercial Court concerning breach of contract and an unlawful means conspiracy in Saudi Arabia (led by Fionn Pilbrow KC)
• Macdonald Hotels v Bank of Scotland – acting for the claimant in proceedings for breach of good faith provisions in a shareholders’ agreement and a Braganza implied term (on a team led by Tim Lord KC and Fred Hobson KC)
• Al Othman v Al Rajhi – acting for the successful claimant in a multi-million dollar debt claim arising out of a transaction to monetise an investment in an energy company (led by Tony Singla KC)
• Parsdome Holdings v PEG – acting for the successful defendant in a misrepresentation claim before the Commercial Court, arising out of a convertible loan agreement (led by Tony Singla KC)
• Advising an international luxury retail conglomerate on the termination of an SaaS contract (on a team led by Charles Hollander KC)
• Advising a major international bank on its obligations arising out of the decision of the Supreme Court in Philipp v Barclays Bank [2023] UKSC 25 (led by Simon Salzedo KC)
• Advising an international luxury wine and spirits conglomerate on a potential claim against a supplier of malt (led by David Bailey KC)
• Acting unled for a prominent international law firm in relation to contemplated Commercial Court proceedings for breach of contract against a former client.
• Acting for a prominent international airline in a contractual dispute before the High Court concerning the supply of RFID tags (led by Tony Singla KC)
• Azima v RAKIA, Dechert and others – proceedings against a global law firm and a retired English solicitor arising out of the hacking of a businessman’s data (assisting Hugo Leith on a team led by Thomas Plewman KC and Tim Lord KC, acting for Mr Azima)
• Wirral Council v Reckitt Benckiser Group – the first representative proceedings ever brought by investors under Section 90A and Schedule 10A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, which concern liability for misleading or dishonest published information relating to securities (assisting Tony Singla KC, acting for the Reckitt Benckiser Group)
• Mornington 2000 LLP and Sante Global LLP v The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care – proceedings brought by a supplier of lateral flow Covid tests against the Health Secretary arising out of the rejection of its goods and the termination of its supply agreement (assisting Tony Singla KC, acting for the Claimants)
• Myenergi Ltd v Myenergi GMBH – proceedings by an English manufacturer of renewable energy devices against its German distributor arising out of the termination of their distribution agreement (assisting Tony Singla KC, acting for Myenergi Ltd)
• Advising a major bank on its liability for misselling holiday timeshare products (assisting Tony Singla KC)
• Advising a prominent American technology company on contemplated proceedings against an English semiconductor company, in a dispute concerning the supply of CPU cores (assisting Tony Singla KC)
• Advising a major German airline on obtaining disclosure from its English auditors (assisting Tony Singla KC)

Vanshaj has a keen interest in international law. He taught public international law, international refugee law, and the international law of the sea to undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Oxford. His DPhil thesis examined the impact of sea-level rise on maritime boundary delimitation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Vanshaj was awarded the prize for International Law of the Sea on the BCL. He was also awarded the Young Scholar Award by the Asian Society for International Law in 2021.

Vanshaj accepts instructions across all areas of international law. His recent experience includes:

• The ‘Enrica Lexie’ case (Italy v India) – proceedings under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, arising out of the killing of two Indian fishermen by two Italian marines off the coast of Kerala (assisting Soli Sorabjee SC, acting for the Government of India)
• Shell UK Ltd and others v Greenpeace UK Ltd and others – proceedings brought before the Admiralty Court against Greenpeace, caused by its activists boarding and occupying a Shell oil platform in transit to the North Sea (assisting Malcolm Birdling on a team led by Victoria Wakefield KC, acting for Greenpeace)
• Centre for Women’s Justice v United Kingdom – proceedings before the CEDAW Committee of the United Nations, challenging provisions in UK law that allow an individual accused of rape to bring a private prosecution against their accuser (assisting Jennifer MacLeod, acting for the Centre for Women’s Justice)
• Advising a prominent international NGO on the domestic enforcement of international criminal law obligations in relation to the conflict in Gaza (with Ali Al-Karim)
• Advising a prominent international NGO on the prospects of challenging UK’s policy on deep seabed mining under the international law of the sea (assisting Malcolm Birdling on a team led by Maya Lester KC)
• Acting for various sanctioned persons and companies challenging their designation under the Russia sanctions regime and the Syria sanctions regime (assisting Malcolm Birdling on a team led by Maya Lester KC)
• Acting for the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights and the International Detention Council in proceedings before the Supreme Court of Mexico, challenging Mexico’s policy of detaining asylum seekers under international law (assisting Ali Al-Karim and Sophie Bird on a team led by Raza Husain KC)

Professional Qualifications

Called to the Bar (England and Wales), 2022

Called to the Bar (India), 2017

Education

2019-2022: DPhil in Law (University of Oxford)

2018-2019: MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (University of Oxford) – Distinction

2017-2018: Bachelor of Civil Law (University of Oxford) – Distinction

2012-2017: BA, LLB (Hons.) (National Law School of India University)

Professional Experience

2023 - present: Tenant, Brick Court Chambers

2022 - 2023: Pupil, Brick Court Chambers

2020 - 2021: Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Law and at the Department of International Development, University of Oxford

2018 - 2019: Research Assistant to Professor Mindy Chen-Wishart, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford

Awards and Scholarships

Rhodes Scholar (India and Exeter, 2017)

Indira Gandhi Scholar (2019)

Asian Society of International Law Young Scholar Award (2021)

Prize for International Law of the Sea (Bachelor of Civil Law)

Prize for Best Thesis (MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies)

Gold Medal for Best Student Advocate (BA, LLB (Hons.))

Podcast: Life as a Commercial Junior (with Tony Singla KC and Sophie Shaw)

‘Guardrails on contractual discretions: navigating the content and consequences of the Braganza constraint’, Journal of International Banking and Financial Law (co-authored with Fred Hobson KC) (2026)

‘Broken Boundaries: Border and Identity Formation in Post-Colonial Punjab’, Asian Journal of International Law (2020)

‘Can China be Brought before an International Court for the Covid Pandemic’, The Print (2020)

‘Frozen Frontier: Uti Possidetis and the Decolonization of South Asia’, Oxford Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper Series (2019)

‘Not the Final Word from Islamabad and Delhi: The Kulbhushan Jadhav Verdict’, The Hindu (2019)

‘Navtej Johar: What Remains of Section 377’, Indian Constitutional Law and Philosophy (2018)

‘Deconstructing the Conflict Between Geographical Indications and Trademarks’, Amherst College Law Review (2017)

‘Defining “Control” under the Indian Competition Act’, NALSAR Student Law Review (2017)

‘Reconstituting Self-Determination and Uti Possidetis’, NALSAR Journal of International Law (2017)

‘Using the Objective Territorial Principle to Prosecute the Islamic State’, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law (2016)

‘Who Will Watch the Watchmen: A Study of the Law on Self-dealing Transactions by Company Directors’, NLS Business Law Review (2016)