Sagar Gupta

Sagar’s practice focuses on international arbitration, high-stakes complex commercial litigation, and public international law. He specializes in investment treaty arbitrations and matters involving the protection of investments under public international law.

Sagar is dual-qualified to practice law in England & Wales and India and a qualified solicitor advocate with higher rights of audience in England & Wales. He has represented governments, corporates, and high-net-worth individuals in institutional (ICC, LCIA) and ad hoc arbitral proceedings in various jurisdictions, such as London, New York, and Paris, and in proceedings before English and Indian courts, including as a barrister. Sagar routinely advises clients in a wide range of sectors, including financial services, technology, energy, and infrastructure.

Before working at a magic circle law firm in London, Sagar practiced as a barrister before the Supreme Court of India and in various High Courts. He was also seconded to Lloyds Banking Group and Citibank, where he advised on a range of securities and financial products issues. Sagar graduated at the top of his class at National Law University, Jodhpur, with academic honors in international trade and investment laws. During law school, he was a senior editor of the Indian Journal of Arbitration Law.

Sagar is fluent in English, Hindi, and Kannada.

Sagar's experience includes:

• Representing the Canadian mining company Montero Mining & Exploration Ltd in an ICSID arbitration against Tanzania over the expropriation of the Wigu Hill mining project under the Canada-Tanzania bilateral investment treaty
• Representing Silver Bull Resources, Inc. in a legacy NAFTA investment claim against Mexico over the expropriation of its silver-zinc mining project before the ICSID
• Advising Resolute in respect of their African mining assets
• Representing an offset broker in two ICC arbitrations seated in London and Washington, D.C. arising out of defence procurement contracts
• Representing a securities trading firm in an international commercial arbitration against an oil major in relation to investor fraud and misrepresentation
• Advising an Irish real estate management company on their disputes arising out of an asset management agreement
• Advising several litigation funders on their review of whether to fund investment arbitrations collectively involving more than US$1 billion in damages
• Advising several energy, infrastructure and mining companies securing the protection of investments under public international law in African states
• Advising an international bank in an ICC arbitration regarding thousands of post-M&A warranty claims allegedly worth billions of dollars*
• Representing British Petroleum on a £1 billion UNCITRAL arbitration against the Government of India concerning several disputes arising under a production-sharing contract*
• Advising two leading energy companies in proceedings before the English Commercial Court and the Court of Appeal for interim measures under the Arbitration Act 1996 in a New York-seated arbitration*
• Representing an energy company in an investment arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules against a CIS state arising out of a multibillion-dollar fine*
• Advising a Japanese car manufacturer on public international law remedies following changes to domestic company law in a G20 country*
• Advising an oil major in a LCIA arbitration concerning an oil pipeline in the North Sea*
• Representing the lead petitioners in a high-profile, successful constitutional challenge to antiquated laws that criminalised consensual same-sex relations before the Supreme Court of India reported as Navtej Singh Johar v Union of India AIR 2018 SC 4321*
• Assisting the amicus curiae in judicial proceedings before the Supreme Court of India concerning 1528 alleged extra-judicial killings by security personnel*

* Matter handled prior to joining BSF

Co-author, Is the People’s Good the Highest Law? The Concept of Necessity in Investor-State Protections, Global Arbitration Review (October 2023)

Co-author, Tracing Key Legal Developments in the UK’s AML Regime, Corporate Compliance Insights (May 2023)

Co-author, Multi-tiered Dispute Resolution Clauses: Towards Harmonisation?, Jus Mundi Blog (May 2023)

Sunk costs as a remedy: sunken treasures or sunken hopes?, Global Arbitration Review (April 2023)

Co-author, Challenges, Opportunities in Digital Asset Tracing and Enforcement, Family Wealth Report (March 2023)

Co-author, Investor-State Space Arbitration Rules, Space Arbitration (January 2023)

Co-author, Applicable Law in Investor-State Space Arbitration, Space Arbitration (December 2022)

Co-author, English Court Rekindles the Debate on the Form of Interim Measures in English-Seated Arbitrations: Order or Award?, Oxford Business Law Blog (November 2022) 

Co-author, How Int'l Claims Can Be Lost — Or Won — In Translation (October 2022)

Soleymani v Nifty Gateway: What’s Next For Consumer Arbitration in the UK?, Thomson Reuters – Practical Law Arbitration Blog (October 2022)

Co-author, The US Supreme Court Transforms 1782 Evidence Gathering (June 2022)

Exclusive Jurisdiction and Seat of Arbitration: Examining the Indian Arbitration Landscape, Indian Review of International Arbitration (2021)

English Court of Appeal Rules on Conflicts of Interest of Experts, Jus Mundi Blog (2021)