Water & Shark appoints Advocate Aniket Gautam as Senior Managing Partner

Water & Shark appoints Advocate Aniket Gautam as Senior Managing Partner

Water & Shark, a Singapore-headquartered global advisory firm founded in 2009, has appointed Advocate Aniket Gautam as Senior Managing Partner to head its cross-border dispute resolution and international legal practice. The firm, which operates from Marina Bay Financial Centre with approximately 69 employees and serves sovereign institutions, royal families, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and multinational enterprises across more than 12 countries, made the announcement on September 30, 2026.

The strategic appointment forms part of a broader partnership between Water & Shark and ASG & Partners, a full-service Indian law firm founded by Mr. Gautam in 2014. The collaboration integrates Water & Shark's global advisory network with ASG & Partners' India-rooted legal capabilities, creating unified legal and dispute-resolution services across the UAE, India, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, and other international jurisdictions.

ASG & Partners operates offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Jaipur, and maintains an exclusive referral relationship with Cathay Associates, a global law firm network spanning more than 60 law firm offices in 50 countries. This network significantly expands the combined firms' reach for cross-border matters.

Leadership and Expertise

As Founder and Managing Partner of ASG & Partners, Mr. Gautam will direct Water & Shark Legal's international dispute-resolution mandates. He will work alongside the firm's legal, tax, and advisory teams to oversee complex multi-jurisdictional disputes, international enforcement, and cross-border family legal proceedings.

Mr. Gautam brings nearly two decades of legal experience to the role. After working as an Associate at IndusLaw from 2009 to 2014, he established ASG & Partners, building expertise in corporate advisory, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, international arbitration, capital markets, banking and finance, white-collar crime, insolvency, and regulatory policy. He holds admissions to the Bar Council of Delhi and the DIFC Courts in Dubai, positioning him to practice across key jurisdictions.

His professional achievements include recognition as Managing Partner of the Year 2026 at the Middle East Conference in Dubai, while ASG & Partners received the Emerging Law Firm of the Year 2026 award in Corporate and Commercial Laws in India.

Strategic Vision

Advocate CA. Harsh Girish Patel, Founder and Global CEO of Water & Shark, described the appointment as the fulfillment of a decade-long vision.

This appointment brings to fruition a shared decade-long vision to create a truly seamless, multi-jurisdictional platform. Aniket's deep dispute resolution expertise and established legal footprint significantly enhance our ability to protect and serve our clients across borders.

Mr. Patel has been recognized as UAE's Most Influential Financial and Legal Professional and received the Leaders of Change award for his leadership of the firm.

Mr. Gautam emphasized the complementary nature of the partnership.

This partnership bridges essential legal frameworks across India, the UAE, and global arbitration forums. By combining multi-disciplinary capabilities while maintaining independent governance, both firms can provide sophisticated, borderless counsel for high-stakes cross-border matters.

Enhanced Legal Capabilities

The partnership strengthens Water & Shark Legal's capabilities across multiple practice areas, including:

• International arbitration
• Cross-border commercial disputes
• Family dispute resolution and mediation
• Debt recovery and enforcement
• White-collar crime and regulatory investigations
• Insolvency and restructuring
• India market entry and exit structuring

The integrated practice will support clients across key arbitration and judicial forums including DIFC Courts, DIAC, ADGM, LCIA, SIAC, HKIAC and AAA/ICDR, with coordinated legal and advisory support spanning multiple jurisdictions. The DIFC Courts have established themselves as a pro-arbitration and enforcement-friendly jurisdiction, with recent rulings confirming the enforceability of arbitral awards and provisional awards granting interim measures from non-DIFC seated arbitrations.

The Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), which replaced the DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre in September 2021 under Decree No. 34 of 2021, now operates with DIFC as the default seat of arbitration, where the DIFC Courts act as the supervisory courts. This framework provides a robust infrastructure for the partnership's dispute resolution work.

Market Context

The partnership addresses growing demand for cross-border legal services between India and the UAE. Indian lawyers have increasingly specialized in India-UAE matters including cross-border mergers and acquisitions, family disputes, corporate compliance, and arbitration where parties are of Indian origin, reflecting the deepening economic ties between the two regions.

Water & Shark's client base includes unicorn companies and spans diverse sectors, positioning the firm to leverage its expanded legal capabilities across high-value, complex cross-border matters requiring coordinated expertise across multiple jurisdictions.