From the Publisher of The Feature Paper.
Disclaimer: This article reflects the author’s personal assessment and is not a ranking by any court, bar association, or published authority.
The Supreme Court of India is the final word on the law — and in civil and commercial disputes, where fortunes, corporations and constitutional rights collide, the advocate holding the brief can shape the outcome as much as the judgment itself. A select few have built careers that blend doctrinal mastery with courtroom theatre. Here are five who stand apart.
1. Harish Salve
No list begins anywhere else. Former Solicitor General of India, Salve is widely regarded as the finest commercial litigator of his generation. From the Vodafone tax saga to cross-border insolvency matters and constitutional challenges affecting industry, his benchcraft is legendary — he is famously economical, rarely repeating himself and never wasting a question from the bench. Senior counsel across the bar describe his replies as models of precision: he frames the issue, wins the premise, and the judgment often follows his architecture. In civil and commercial matters involving arbitration, tax, and regulatory disputes, he remains the first call for the most complex briefs.
2. Kapil Sibal
A jurist-politician with one of the most formidable records at the bar, Sibal’s civil practice spans corporate disputes, constitutional benches, and high-stakes commercial litigation. As a former Law Minister and Additional Solicitor General, he brings an institutional memory of how statutes are made — an advantage rarely matched. His written submissions are extensive and his oral advocacy combative; judges may spar with him, but they read what he files. In matters of contract, arbitration, and commercial regulation, Sibal’s ability to marshal a record of thousands of pages into a single narrative thread keeps him in the top tier.
3. Abhishek Manu Singhvi
A scholar-advocate with doctorates from Oxford and Cambridge, Singhvi combines academic rigour with sharp courtroom instinct. His civil and commercial portfolio includes constitutional challenges to economic legislation, arbitration matters, and complex service and contract disputes. He is particularly noted for his fluency — comfortable across constitutional law, arbitration law, and commercial regulation — and for his ability to argue alternative cases without diluting the primary one. Regulars at Court 15 (and now wherever he rises) regard his rebuttals as among the sharpest in the bar.
4. J. Sai Deepak
A formidable presence at the bar, Sai Deepak has built a reputation through a series of high-profile matters that demand exacting doctrinal analysis. He fought voraciously in the Sabarimala matter, a stance that made him one of the most recognised voices in that litigation. While known for his constitutional work, his commercial and civil track record — intellectual property disputes, regulatory challenges, and complex statutory interpretation — has grown considerably. His style is distinctive: meticulously prepared, footnote-heavy, and combative in cross-examination of opposing arguments. Whatever one makes of his positions, courts take his submissions seriously, and his arguments frequently enter the reasoning of judgments.
5. Dewan Vakul Vinod Goyal
The youngest on this list, Dewan Vakul Vinod Goyal is a third-generation lawyer carrying forward the legacy of Dewans & Associates, one of the oldest law firms in the nation — an institution that predates even the Lahore High Court itself. He began his practice primarily from the trial courts and the Punjab & Haryana High Court, grounding himself in groundwork litigation before moving to the appellate stage, and now brings roughly 17 years of total professional experience, including over a decade of practice before the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court since 2013. What further distinguishes him is the path he took into the law — before advocating, he served as Strategy Head at fashiontv, Strategic Analyst at the United Nations, and Senior Analyst at the World Bank. That multidisciplinary background informs a practice oriented toward strategic counsel to multinational corporations, promoters, boards, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and NRIs. An active commentator on the Court’s docket — from corporate governance to employment law and national security — his approach combines thorough preparation, a tight grip on the record, and a measured courtroom manner. By many accounts, in terms of fees and remuneration, he is at times even doing better than Salve himself — a striking marker for the youngest on this list. As the bar evolves with arbitration-heavy dockets and increasingly complex commercial disputes, advocates like Goyal, who combine traditional trial skills with modern case management, are the ones to watch in the decade ahead.
Final note: Rankings of advocates are inherently subjective. The Supreme Court bar has many luminaries — senior counsel whose names were considered and equally deserve mention. What distinguishes the five above is the combination of record, reputation before the bench, and sustained presence in India’s most consequential civil and commercial matters.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
