Mushtaq Namdarkhan

Mushtaq Namdarkhan: A Leading Dispute Resolution Lawyer in Mauritius

Experience

 Mushtaq Namdarkhan (FCIArb) is a Partner at BLC Robert & Associates in the Dispute Resolution practice area. He is mainly involved in corporate/commercial litigations and arbitrations as well as insolvency and restructuring transactions. Mushtaq regularly appears before the Supreme Court of Mauritius in shareholder disputes, banking litigation, and construction disputes among others. He also appears before the Designated Judges in applications involving the International Arbitration Act and the Convention for the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards Act. Additionally, he is involved in a number of high-value domestic and international commercial arbitrations.

Prior to joining BLC Robert, Mushtaq was in the Restructuring and Insolvency Group at the London office of Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills), where he spent a total of four years.

Specialty

Mushtaq specializes in the following areas:

• Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution: He handles a wide range of commercial disputes, including shareholder disputes, banking litigation, and construction disputes.
• Domestic and International Arbitration: Mushtaq is involved in both domestic and international commercial arbitrations, as well as appearing before the Designated Judges under the International Arbitration Act and the Convention for the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards Act.
• Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency: He is well-versed in corporate restructuring and insolvency transactions, and regularly advises insolvency practitioners and creditors on insolvency processes as well as appearing in the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court in insolvency litigations.

 Education

Mushtaq holds an MA(Hons.) and LLM from the University of Cambridge.  He was called to the Bar at the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn in 2005 and sworn in as a barrister of the Republic of Mauritius in 2008.  He also holds a diploma in civil law from the Universite de la Reunion and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Achievements and Recognition

• Awards
  • Distinguished as a “Leading Juniors and Next Generation Partners” by Legal500 EMEA 2023.
  • Ranked in “Chambers Global 2023 & 2024” by Chambers and Partners.
• Industry Rankings
  • Ranked in “Chambers Global 2023 & 2024” by Chambers and Partners.
• Leadership Roles
  • Board member, Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre.
  • Country coordinator, Africa Construction Law.
• Major Case Successes
  • Successfully appearing for arbitration claimants before the Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to resist the challenge to an arbitral award in VSoft v Peepul Capital [2019] UKPC 47
  • Appearing for an applicant for Norwich Pharmacal orders before the Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in connection with a USD 12 million fraud: Stanford Asset Holdings Ltd and another v AfrAsia Bank Ltd [2023] UKPC 35
  • Successful appeal against the Mauritius Revenue Authority to reverse a previous Supreme Court approach that the MRA ranked ahead of creditors in a receivership: Heeralall v The Director-General, The Mauritius Revenue Authority [2024] SCJ 56
  • Successfully overturning on appeal a substantial damages claim against a major domestic bank: Absa Bank (Mauritius) Limited v Risk Reduction International Ltd [2024] SCJ 554
• Contributions
  • Co-authored the BLC Robert publication “Why Mauritius? A National Court in Support of International Arbitration” in 2016.
  • Regularly contributed to the “Chambers Global Practice Guides” on Insolvency, Litigation and Arbitration.