Kartik Sharma - Partner

Kartik is a barrister specialising in cross-border commercial disputes, particularly in the field of banking and finance, corporate restructuring, insurance/reinsurance, dry shipping, financial services, and corporate insolvency. 

Qualified as a lawyer in 4 jurisdictions he is called as a barrister in England and the British Virgin Islands, as an advocate in India and a Part II Practitioner in Dubai.

Kartik has been involved in significant commercial litigation across multiple jurisdictions such as British Virgin Islands, United Arab Emirates, Cayman Islands, Russia, Kazakhstan, France, Singapore, Switzerland and India.

Prior to joining CANDEY, Kartik worked at two international law firms in London and the BVI and completed pupillage at a leading commercial set. Kartik regularly appears in the High Court in London and has had significant experience in matters before the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Kartik also appears in international courts particularly the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the Grand Court in Cayman Islands, the Privy Council, and the DIFC and ADGM Courts. Kartik is frequently up against senior counsel in court proceedings.

Given his broad experience in cross-border matters, a lot of Kartik’s work relates to cross-border proceedings having nexus to other jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Middle East, India, and CIS countries.

Recent work and experience includes:

Sole counsel in the London High Court representing directors of a media company in insolvency proceedings.

Sole counsel in the London High Court representing a property company appealing an administrative decision of the Secretary of State.

Acted, as a part of a larger team, to represent one of the UK's largest banks seeking appointment of joint liquidators in relation to various offshore holding companies for debt recovery in excess of £1bn.

Acted, as a part of a larger team, in a £5bn blue-chip banking fraud emanating in Russia-Kazakhstan spanning 12 jurisdictions such as Russia, BVI, Cyprus, Channel Islands, Antigua, Seychelles, and Switzerland.

In relation to a multi-billion cross-border restructuring proceeding of a commodities group, Kartik advised on the law of corporate insolvency and restructuring in the BVI including recent case law and practice and how BVI law may affect restructuring proceedings in England, UAE, and other jurisdictions.

Assisted in drafting several successful applications to the BVI Court to recognize US Chapter 11 proceedings in the BVI and obtained interim relief for US trustees in the BVI by way of Norwich Pharmacal disclosure.

Advised on the application of S.238 of Cayman Island Companies Act as a part of a 'take-private' transaction for one of China’s largest private equity firms and various other entities.

Kartik has had significant experience in international arbitration. Kartik’s expertise in international arbitration stems from his training at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris, where he gained valuable insights into the practice and procedure of arbitration under various rules and jurisdictions. Kartik is familiar with rules of most arbitral institutions such as SIAC, LCIA, DIAC, UNCITRAL, and LMAA and is also equipped to deal with most voyage and time charterparty forms such as Gencon, NYPE, Baltime, Shelltime, and Bareco.

Recent work and experience in international arbitration:

Drafted claim submissions for an Indian coal company in a SIAC arbitration in a complex damaged cargo claim of $14mn against a major shipping line.

Assisted in drafting a legal opinion to advise a Spanish company in a cargo dispute on merits of a potential arbitration where there had been a delay of more than 4 years in initiating an arbitration process under LCIA rules against a Singaporean company.

Drafted an opinion in a $10mn ICC arbitration to advise a Dutch charter company on the merits of their off-hire claim where due to stevedore damage a shipping vessel was off-hire for a period of time. Parties were based in USA and Netherlands.

Advised in multiple commercial arbitrations on various substantive and procedural aspects of arbitration as per LCIA (London), ICC(Paris), SIAC(Singapore), and HKIAC (Hong Kong) rules.

Kartik has a Masters of Law (Commercial Laws) from the University of Cambridge. He also taught Company Law at Cambridge.

Email: ksharma@candey.com