Member Profiles

Sanjeev chairs the litigation practice of the firm. He specializes in enforcement, protection and dispute resolution in the areas of Patent, Design, Plant Varieties and Biological diversity laws. Besides, he handles transactional work including technology transfer and licensing agreements.  Sanjeev has extensive experience of over 20 years in handling a broad range of intellectual property disputes with particular emphasis on patents & designs litigation. He regularly renders opinions on the validity and enforcement of patents and designs, freedom to operate, infringement analysis and due diligence, apart from managing patent portfolios of clients. Sanjeev regularly appears before the Indian Patent Office, Intellectual Property Appellate Board and various District and High Courts as well as the Supreme Court of India in connection with enforcement of patents and designs. Sanjay serves as a Member of the International Chamber of Commerce India's Working Group on Intellectual Property  and as an Executive member of the Asian Patent Attorney Association (APAA) India Group. Prior to joining the firm in 2008, Sanjeev practiced as an independent lawyer before the High Court of Delhi for nine years, handling commercial and corporate litigation. Achievements and Honours Asialaw Leading Lawyers 2017- listed as Leading Lawyer for IP Asialaw Profiles - Notable practitioner (Dispute resolution and IP) ranked in 2020, 2021 & 2022 IAM Patent 1000 - The World’s Leading Patent Professional (Litigation and transactions) ranked in 2019, 2020 & 2021 Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific 2019 – Listed as Key Contact Professional Membership(s) Asian Patent Attorney Association (APAA) India Group Bar Council of Delhi Delhi Hight Court Bar Association Member of ICC India Working Group on Intellectual Property

Regarded as a renowned restructuring, bankruptcy, infrastructure and project finance attorney, Bahram Vakil was appointed as a key member of the Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee (BLRC), chaired by Dr. T K Viswanathan and constituted by the Ministry of Finance to draft the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). Bahram is also a member of the Insolvency Law Amendment Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for recommending amendments to the IBC. As part of his restructuring and bankruptcy experience, Bahram has advised bidders, insolvency professionals, domestic and international banks, hedge funds and interim financiers under the IBC, including the large stressed accounts referred to insolvency resolution by the RBI. Considered by multiple leading publications amongst the most well reputed restructuring and banking & finance lawyers in the country, Chambers Global states that, “Bahram Vakil is an instantly recognizable figure who is commended for his being able to ‘get into the details’ of more complex matters. Vakil’s strength lies in his ability to bring the commercial point of view to the table.” Bahram also served on the U.K. Sinha Committee – Working Group on Foreign Investment in India, Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Committee (FSLRC) – SEBI Advisory Group and SEBI Sub – Group on Regulatory Guidelines for Redeemable Non – Convertible Preference shares.

ZARIR BHARUCHA, a third-generation lawyer is a leading dispute resolution professional in India, with over 20 years’ experience and previously worked at magic circle firm, Linklaters in London. Zarir has acted in a number of ground breaking cases in the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court of India and regularly litigates international disputes in courts and tribunals throughout India. Zarir is also nominated by the LCIA as an arbitrator on India related disputes and has frequently given expert evidence in foreign arbitration and before courts outside India. Zarir frequently contributes articles for the trade and legal press, participates in policy contribution and on committees for new legislation (particularly in the marine area) and is a regular speaker at a number of specialist conferences such as the IBA.

Ms. Malavika T. Vikram, is one of De Penning & De Penning's Senior Attorney, with a wealth of experience in the field of Trademark, Copyright, Domain name protection and enforcement. Ms. Vikram started her career in Law as a Research Scholar in Criminology Department of University of Strathclyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. On her return to India, she was a general practice lawyer before the Madras High Court, with special focus on Constitutional law, Family Law, Company Law and Intellectual Property Law. Malavika Vikram has been associated with De Penning & De Penning since 2002 and is currently the Practice Head of the Trademark & Copyright division. She also heads the IP Litigation department, which handles pre-litigation investigation, discovery and enforcement strategy culminating in Infringement action. Apart from civil action Malavika and team have initiated criminal actions against counterfeit activities on e-commerce sites and in physical stores. She has also led several pre-litigation negotiations to find amicable resolution to IP disputes. Her experience extends to advising clients on IP transactions and maximizing the financial value of IP Assets. Malavika works with Indian clients on trade mark and copyright prosecution and enforcement in APAC countries she is also a regular speaker in various IP sensitization and discussion forums and was a recipient of “Powerful Women in Intellectual Property, 2023“ award by the World IP Forum.

He heads the firm’s ship finance, shipping transport, oil and gas practice groups and co-heads the banking practice group. Advises clients across various industries: Banking, insurance, shipping, subsea engineering and marine services, offshore construction, infrastructure (LNG ports, energy,oil & gas), logistics and transport. Advising ship/rig owners on regulatory issues including flagging, cabotage, applicable taxes while investing in projects including LNG/port projects/FSRU projects, coastal,inland waterways, logistics, CFS & ICDs. Reviewing RFQ, bid documents,assessing risk areas. While structuring investments he deals with competition law issues, red flag items-pollution,product liability, risks which are not insurable etc. Advises Overseas Lenders in India related ship and structured finance for new builts,second hand vessels, offshore structures, sale and lease back. He has extensive ship finance practice, having completed 400 ship finance deals in the past 12 years of new buildings,second-hand vessels, ocean-going vessels and oil rigs, LNG carriers, FSRUs, FPSOs, operating in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone.   Some of the Go Green deals handled by him are:   ·        Actedfor overseas lenders for financing the first four LNG vessels “Disha, Raahi,Aseem, Prachi” flying foreign flags vessels on long term charters to PetronetLNG (2001-2004, 2009, 2016).   ·        Acted for Hoegh LNG in 2020 in regard to a 10-yearcharter with H-Energy for their LNG import terminal at Jaigarh, India. Höegh LNG will be the first FSRU operating in India and will replace a coal consumption with natural gas reducing CO2 emissions of 120 million tonnes etc.   Advises on all types of charterparty contracts,particularly relating to dry cargo (bulk)- iron ore/coal. Integrate subsea and marine service industry for seamless project delivery.   Recently advised private equity fund entering Indian shipping industry.   Mr. Thacker hand lessale and purchase contracts of goods/ services, take or pay, logistics, trade,commodities, supply chain contracts of raw material and finished products,licensing, dealership etc.   His litigation/arbitration practice is domestic& cross-border. Deals with banking & debt disputes, corporate insolvencies & restructurings, enforcement of foreign awards. Advises on managing litigation risks & facilitates negotiations to resolve disputes thus resulting in the least possible adverse effect to clients business &benefit   Lloyd’s List ranked him in the “Top 10 Lawyers” stating “HIGHLY regarded for his work in the LNG sector, particularly for interesting and highly geared finance deals in relation to infrastructure projects, energy, ports and ships.”   Mr Thacker is ranked Band 1 by Chambers: Shipping& Maritime for over last 10 years, and ranked in Banking & Insurance for several years. He is consistently recognized as leading lawyers for Shipping by Legal 500. He has also been ranked by Who’s Who Legal: Banking,Finance and Shipping from 2017 to 2021. Who’s Who Legal says: ‘WWL says: Shardul Thacker is singled out among peers for his "profound knowledge of the local legal environment and transactions" within the shipping industry” He is the India correspondent for Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly. Vice President of Indian Maritime Law Association, affiliated to CMI. Member of Executive Committee of Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, Maritime Users’ Council. Contributed India Sections: ·        International Maritime Law Handbook, Kluwer ·        Transport Finance Law Review 2021, Law Business Research ·        Chambers Global Practice Legal Guides for Shipping and Insurance 2019 ·        International Comparative Legal Guide for Shipping Law 2019, GLG, UK ·        Time Bar in Insurance& Reinsurance, “An International Comparison”, Clyde & Co’s. Cross-Border Security, Norton Rose & Buttorworths. 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}