Representative Experience:

• We secured three important judgments for Nepal Water and Energy Development Company (NWEDC) in connection with its Upper Trishuli- 1 (216 MW) hydropower project that is financed by nine international banks including the IFC and ADB:
  • We successfully stayed and dismissed the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse and Authority’s termination of NWEDC’s survey license (on grounds of legitimacy and validity) in the Supreme Court.
  • We dismissed two Public Interest Litigations in the Supreme Court that challenged the validity of NWEDC’s licenses on various grounds including environmental survey inadequacy and incapability to deliver.
• We successfully represented a leading infrastructure firm in the Supreme Court by invalidating an international bidding process and associated license for a large telecommunications project on grounds of non-compliance with the Public Procurement Act 2063 (BS) and the associated Public Procurement Rules 2064 (BS).
• We successfully represented the office of the President of Nepal in the Supreme Court by dismissing a writ challenging the removal of a Nepal Army Chief from office.
• We have been involved in defending Prime Ministers for dissolving Parliament on two occasions:
  • We represented then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in the Supreme Court (Constitutional Bench) to defend a constitutional challenge following a parliamentary dissolution in December 2020.
  • We were actively involved (out of court) in creating legal arguments and strategies to help defend then Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari’s dissolution of parliament in 1995/96.
• We successfully represented the then Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister, and A-class civil servant in the first three landmark cases brought under the PoCA 2059 (2002 AD) in the Special Court and/or Supreme Court that clarified the scope of corruption, bribery, and disproportionate property.
• We represented an association of leading private organisations in the High Court to stay further action from government agencies that would inhibit business in the Pashupati area in a highly sensitive and complex matter.
• Setting a record at the Supreme Court, we successfully reinstated the employment of a wrongfully dismissed government employee who was dismissed eighteen years earlier. We defeated a laches claim and established a writ jurisdiction precedent.
• Establishing an important precedent, we acted for a top Nepalese conglomerate and successfully obtained an injunction from the Nepalese Supreme Court to block a multijurisdictional SWIFT payment (under a letter of credit) 24 hours before payment was due, applying national and international laws and customs including the UCP 600.
• We successfully represented a leading consumer foods company in the Supreme Court in a trademark infringement and passing-off claim.
• In a landmark tax case, we successfully issued a writ petition in the Supreme Court that quashed the Tax Tribunal’s decision to disallow certain disputed corporate tax and excise duty tax exemptions and tax holidays.
• We acted for a top businessman to secure his release from custody on a favourable cash bail in a highly politicised fraud charge.
• We successfully obtained numerous stay orders (accumulating to over 5 years) in a seemingly hopeless situation where following the default of a loan, a leading bank treated realty as a Non-Banking Asset and asked to vacate the property under the loan recovery process.
• We successfully quashed a government agency decision that was indirectly discriminatory towards certain private institutions in the Supreme Court.
• We successfully represented a leading moviestar by obtaining a prohibitory order against further police involvement and securing his removal from custody in an excess of jurisdiction case.
• We successful represented the accused in a landmark marital rape case in the Supreme Court involving substantial cross examination, which clarified the scope and interpretation of consent.
• We represented an innocent agent in a human trafficking charge in the High Court, clarifying the reliability and admissibility of expert evidence and witness statements.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution:
  • We successfully represented international shareholders and beneficiaries in a NEPCA arbitration involving a substantial property (realty and shares) dispute.
  • We represented a major hydropower projects sponsor in a FREEDEAL arbitration against developers in a dispute regarding construction failures.
  • Our Founding Partner acted as Chief arbitrator in a multijurisdictional FREEDEAL arbitration claim involving substantial unpaid debt.
  • We mediated to avoid litigation and settled a substantial contractual dispute at favourable terms for an international client.
  • We advised a leading construction firm in relation to an expert determination involving valuation of the cost of project delays.