Meet the team

Mr. Bhansali, a specialist in WTO matters, has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Delhi University, and in Economics from Boston University, USA. He is also a law graduate from the Delhi University. He is a former civil servant from the 1980 batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise).

He has worked in several capacities in the Department of Revenue and other Ministries and was the first Director of the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (formerly known as Directorate General of Anti-dumping & Allied Duties) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Mr. Bhansali has to his credit the distinction of handling a very large number of anti-dumping cases in India and cases against India. He also assisted Indian exporters as well as the Government of India in several cases of anti-dumping, subsidies and safeguard measures. Mr. Bhansali has handled several cases of domestic industry, Indian exporters and foreign firms exporting to India with an excellent track record. He has been rated as “outstanding anti-dumping lawyer in India” by the London based Chambers & Partners.

Mr. Singh obtained his degree in law from the Delhi University in the year 1990, after completing his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Mr. Singh started his legal career in trade laws with a, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. He was also appointed as the Counsel for the State of Gujarat in the Supreme Court. Mr. Singh has experience of over 30 years at Customs Excise & Service Tax (Appellate) Tribunal, various High Courts and Supreme Court of India in all types of trade matters including anti-dumping, valuation, classification, import export policy, export-oriented schemes and other issues relating to international trade.

Jitendra has appeared for a number of Corporate Houses at various fora and has a number of reported cases to his credit. Jitendra was associated with KPMG Peat Marwick for over three years where he set up and headed its operations in Indirect Taxes. He successfully serviced and catered to more than 80 multinational companies.

Mr. Vishwanath is the Principal Adviser with ASL since April 2009. He has been working closely with government and industry in India on impact of multilateral and bilateral trade agreements and global economic policies for industry since 1989. The core area of work for Mr. Vishwanath is analysing the impact of regulations and government policies across the globe that impact global trade in agriculture, marine and industrial products. ASL had been retained for more than 11 years to assist the Department of Commerce, Government of India on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and food regulations across the globe since January 2010. Mr. Vishwanath has been working on trade and economic policy issues since 1989.

He worked very closely with industry in India on bilateral, multilateral and other trade policy issues as part of International Trade Policy Division in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) which he joined in 1999. From 2003 to 2005 he was posted in Geneva, Switzerland as Head- CII Geneva Office to follow he Doha Round of negotiations of the WTO and provide inputs to negotiators on the Indian industry position for the Doha Round. He returned to Head the International Trade Policy Division of CII and was Senior Director and Head of the International Division and the International Trade Policy Division before moving to ASL. As Head of International Trade Policy Division in CII, he has also been part of the Indian government team for some of the FTA negotiations. Before joining CII, Mr. Vishwanath was an economic journalist for over 12 years covering trade and economic policy issues for The Economic Times, Financial Express and the Hindu Business Line.

Joseph Pookkatt heads the Firms Commercial Law practice with over 28 years of legal, strategic, commercial and management experience. Joseph graduated from the National Law School of India University (Bangalore) and the College of Law, York, UK. He is a recipient of several scholarships and prestigious global fellowships including the Chevening Scholarship in Corporate Law (UK-1996); the European Series (EU -1997) and the Rheinhard Mohn Fellowship among others.

In the year 2005, he was selected by the US Department of State as India’s representative for the International Visitor Leadership Program 2005 for studies on the US Legal System. Joseph has also completed executive education programs in prestigious institutions like IIM, Ahmedabad and Harvard Law School. Mr. Pookkatt has practiced and studied law in the key jurisdictions of United Kingdom, United States and India. Mr. Pookkatt has written 3 books and has several publications to his credit. Joseph has an avid interest in ‘big-data’ and AI based projects in the legal and regulatory domains.

Jinendra Singhvi is part of the ASL’s International Trade practices. He advises clients on all aspects of trade remedies, with particular emphasis on anti-dumping, anti-subsidies and safeguards and matters related to these. Jinendra has represented corporations and governments in anti-dumping, safeguard, and anti-subsidy cases before Indian Authorities as well as before the investigating authorities of EU, China, Indonesia, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Vietnam, and other countries. His experience covers all stages of the proceedings, from preparing questionnaire responses to prepare strategies to challenging measures before the courts. Jinendra has also helped governments as well as private sectors in drafting responses.

Mr. Dubey is a qualified Chartered Accountant, MBA with expertise in Investment and Master’s in Commerce. He has extensive experience of more than eleven years in international trade and the WTO field. He has represented exporters, importers and domestic industry in anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard investigations before the Directorate General of Trade Remedies and the Authorities of foreign jurisdictions. He has worked successfully with clients across various sectors such as petrochemicals, textile, pharmaceutical, metal, glass, solar etc.

He has represented clients in trade remedial investigations conducted in various jurisdictions, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Brazil, Korea, USA and India. Prior to joining the Firm, he was working with PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited (PwC) as an Associate Director, where he was managing the Trade Remedial Practice. In addition to the Trade Remedial assignments, he has also handled Special Economic Zone assignments and MIS.

Suresh P Singh has joined ASL Legal on 1st December 2023. He is Post-graduate in Economics with more than 25 years of experience in research and project management. During this period, he has published over 100 research reports, research papers, media articles. His core areas of interest include international trade, cross-border trade and transport connectivity; capacity building; networking with national and international research and developmental agencies; and engaging with policy makers for policy and practice changes. He has worked on several development projects both for the national and international organisations, including o ‘Energy Efficient Products and Consumers in India for ClimateWorks Foundation [US]; Food Insecurity and Climate Change Impacts in South Asia for Oxfam [Netherland]; Cotton Production and Environmental Sustainability in India for SIFO [Norway]; Rice Seeds Trade between India and Bangladesh for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [US]; Assessment of Potential Impact of India-EU FTA on Processed Food Products for the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, [Government of India]; Multimodal Connectivity in the BBIN Subregion for FCDO [UK].

Aman has been associated with the firm since 2011. He is considered an expert in compilation and analysis of trade data. Aman is an integral part of ASL’s corporate advisory team and helps the firm in delivering data-based strategies to the corporations seeking our assistance. He also holds in-depth knowledge of multilateral trade agreements, FTA’s/RTA’s and has developed an extensive and readily available database of India’s trade agreements and the notifications published thereto.

Babita is a part of the Firm’s crisis management, corporate communication and regulation management team. Since joining the firm in 2014, she has assisted the firm in catering to the needs of our clients in a vast variety of issues in the above fields. Babita is a common link between the different practices of the Firm and helps us in delivering multi-pronged solutions to our clients.

Ravindra Barnwal has been with the firm right from its inception. He has been instrumental in developing a dedicated software for injury analysis for the purpose of anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard investigations. During his tenure with ASL for over 20 years, he has been involved in some of the most complicated cases in India and abroad. He has the unique ability to provide tailored solutions for corporations in a fast paced and time bound manner.

Pankaj has been associated with the firm in the capacity of executive assistant in litigation field for a time spanning over two decades. He has in-depth knowledge of the functioning of the courts and assists the litigation team in filing and management of cases. Pankaj is well appreciated by our clients for his unique problem-solving abilities.

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