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Vasuda Sinha

Counsel

International arbitration | Pro bono |

Vasuda Sinha is exceptionally bright and an excellent advocate

Legal 500 Europe Rankings 2023

Profile details

About Vasuda Sinha

Vasuda is an experienced advocate with particular expertise in commercial and investment arbitrations, cross-border and jurisdictional disputes, and commercial litigation, including insolvency litigation. Vasuda has appeared as counsel before various arbitral tribunals and courts, including SCC, ICC and ICSID tribunals and the Supreme Court of Canada. Vasuda presents and publishes on a variety of legal topics, including damages in investment arbitration and human rights and litigation. She is particularly interested in diversity in the profession and the importance of mentorship and sponsorship.

Prior to joining Freshfields, Vasuda practised for several years in the litigation group of an international law firm in Toronto. Prior to practise, Vasuda articled at the Ottawa office of a national Canadian firm, where she focused on public law litigation. After articles she spent a year in various chambers in London as a Fox Scholar.

Vasuda is qualified to practice in Canada (Ontario) and France (Paris).

She speaks English, Hindi and French. 

Recent work

  • Representing a Kazakh company in an SCC arbitration brought by a contractor arising out of two contracts for the manufacture and installation of equipment for use in an oilfield.
  • Acting for a leading operator in the nuclear energy industry in a high-value commercial dispute (ICC arbitration) concerning a long-term supply contract.
  • Representing an international supplier of building materials in an ICC arbitration concerning a high-value post-M&A dispute.
  • Representing a client in coordinating a global campaign of enforcement proceedings for an arbitral award and various court judgments in a number of jurisdictions.
  • Advising a pro-bono NGO client in relation to a peace agreement concluding a non-international armed conflict.
  • Acting for a leading EPC and EPCM services company in defending shareholder class actions, including in respect of claims for civil secondary market liability and prospectus misrepresentation.
  • Acting for Nortel Canada in its insolvency, including in a trial jointly held in the US Bankruptcy and Ontario courts regarding the allocation of the proceeds from the sale of Nortel’s assets and the litigation of certain other claims that have been asserted against Nortel, including by the UK Pension Protection Fund and the Nortel UK Pension Fund Trustee.

Qualifications

Education

  • Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, JD
  • Queen’s University, BA Hons (with Distinction)

Professional qualifications

  • Barrister and Solicitor (Ontario, Canada)
  • Avocat à la Cour (Paris Bar)

Professional memberships

  • International Chamber of Commerce (Canada)
  • Young Canadian Arbitration Practitioners
  • The Advocates' Society (Canada)

 

 

Publications

  • International arbitration Top Trends 2022 Perspective

  • Romanian Arbitration Journal, Number 1/2021 (April 2021) Co-author (with Gabriel Fusea), 'Counterclaims in Investment Arbitration: Key Threshold Issues for Claimants, Respondents and Tribunals'

  • Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Review, Volume 8, Number 4 (November 2019) Co-author (with Gabriel Fusea), ‘Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corp v Hydro-Québec: A Lesson in Comparative Contract Law’

  • Contemporary and Emerging Issues on the Law of Damages and Valuation in International Investment Arbitration, Christina L. Beharry, Ed., Nijhoff International Investment Law Series, Volume: 11, (Boston : Brill Nijhoff, 2018) Co-author (with Noah Rubins and Baxter Roberts), ‘Approaches to Valuation in Investment Treaty Arbitration’

  • Journal of Law and Social Policy 26 (2017): 43-67 Co-author (with Lorne Sossin and Jenna Meguid), ‘Charter Litigation, Social and Economic Rights & Civil Procedure’

  • International Rule of Law and Professional Ethics, Vesselin Popovski, Ed., (Oxford: Ashgate, 2014) Co-author (with Lorne Sossin), 'International Civil Service Ethics, Professionalism and the Rule of Law'

  • Lex Arbitri, Spring/Summer 2011, Volume 7, Number 1 Expert Impartiality and the Sachs Protocol