Siddhartha Shukla and Dhananjaya Chak promoted to partnership at Herbert Smith Freehills
Both London-based lawyers are Indian law graduates and English law qualified
Based across London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo offices, law firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has promoted Siddhartha Shukla and Dhananjaya Chak the key members of its India practice, to a partnership. The two have impressive track records of advising in their area of expertise on India-related transactions and projects.
Congratulating them on the promotions, Chris Parsons, the Chair of the India Practice said: “The promotions are a milestone for our India practice, as we support the new generation of leaders that will continue to work with our clients on their most important strategic Indian-related projects and investments.”
Siddhartha Shukla commented, “I am thrilled to be joining the partnership at HSF and to be the first homegrown Indian to do so. I feel proud to be a partner at a firm which has been an important participant in India’s global growth journey.”
Dhananjaya Chak remarked, “I am really excited to be joining the partnership at HSF, a firm with a track record of working on the most significant India-related mandates. India is one of the world’s largest and most important energy and infrastructure geographies. I am particularly looking forward to working with clients and colleagues to unlock the financing opportunities and accelerate growth in this market.”
Shukla is a cross-border M&A specialist focusing on high-value, complex transactions, including joint ventures and growth/private capital investments. Dual-qualified in India (advocate, non-practicing) and England and Wales (solicitor), he possesses over a decade of experience in working across a number of sectors (particularly TMT/Tech and real estate) and key global geographies and international corridors (including the US-UK/EMEA, India-UK/Europe, Australia-UK, South Africa-UK and Japan-UK).
He has advised on some of the most significant international cross-border M&A transactions that the firm has worked on. These include India-related international transactions for prominent Indian corporates including the Bharti Group, ArcelorMittal, Godrej Consumer, JSW Steel, InterGlobe, and Reliance. An alumnus of National Law University, Jodhpur, Shukla was one of the first Indian graduates to have been recruited by the firm through its Indian internship program.
On the other hand, Chak is a finance specialist and heads HSF’s top-tier India project finance practice. He has extensive experience acting for sponsors and lenders on the full spectrum of brownfield infrastructure acquisition financings across Europe and the UK (including multisource, holdco and midco financing) and also the Greenfield project financing in Africa and Southeast Asia (with a particular focus on India).
In recent years, he has advised clients including the International Finance Corporation, GIC, EDEN India and Azure Power on a number of significant energy and infrastructure financing transactions. Dual-qualified in England and Wales (solicitor) and India (advocate, non-practicing), Chak is an alumnus of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research, Hyderabad. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, he worked in the project finance practice of a leading international law firm in London.
About Herbert Smith Freehills’ India practice
The firm’s India practice enjoys top rankings by Chambers Asia Pacific and is ranked B and 1 in Corporate/M&A and Projects and Energy. Few global law firms boast as many individual lawyer rankings across India in the International Firms-Expertise Based Abroad categories.