Overview
Maanas Jain is an English-qualified barrister and senior associate in the London office of Paul Hastings. Maanas’s practice encompasses international commercial arbitration, investment treaty disputes and public international law.
Maanas has advised, represented, and conducted advocacy for corporations and States in complex, high-value commercial and investment treaty arbitrations across a broad range of sectors (including energy, finance, life sciences, technology, and infrastructure).
With over a decade in practice, Maanas has extensive experience handling disputes involving States or State entities, and a particular focus on cases with an Indian connection.
Maanas also advises and represents parties in arbitration-related court matters. Most notably, he appeared as counsel in the U.K. Supreme Court on behalf of the ICC in Halliburton v Chubb, which is the leading English authority on apparent bias in circumstances of multiple arbitral appointments in related cases.
Maanas is a former co-chair of Young ICCA (one of the world’s leading international arbitration networks for young practitioners and students) and Vice-Chair of Advocacy for the Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers (REAL) organisation. He regularly speaks on arbitration all over the world, and his recent publications have appeared in the European International Arbitration Review and Practical Law.
Maanas has consistently been recognised as a “Rising Star” and “one to watch” for International Commercial Arbitration in The Legal 500 UK guide (2023-2025), with clients describing him as a “star of the future”. He has also been identified as one of London’s “brightest” arbitration stars of the next generation in Legal Business’ Disputes Yearbook and is ranked as an “Arbitration Future Leader” in Lexology Index’s 2025 Arbitration Report (formerly Who’s Who Legal).
Recognitions
- Legal 500 U.K. Guide 2023-2025 (Rising Star, International Commercial Arbitration)
- Arbitration Future Leader, Lexology Index Arbitration 2025 (formerly Who’s Who Legal)
- Next Generation of Arbitration, Legal Disputes Yearbook 2022
Education
- City Law School, Distinction
- Oxford University, B.A.
Representations
- A European private equity firm in an ICC arbitration against a Turkish counterparty regarding the exercise of a put option in a shareholders agreement arising from a US$200 million investment in a pharmaceutical company, with related court litigation. Turkish law applies.
- A private equity firm relating to a disputed acquisition and onward sale of a multi-billion dollar gold mining asset in a Central Asian country. Luxembourg law applies.
- Acting as international counsel to one of the largest private equity firms in the world in insolvency-related litigation in Spain with over $1 billion claimed. There are multiple legal proceedings, including contractual litigation, insolvency litigation and criminal proceedings.
- Acting for an oil major in a SIAC arbitration (seated in Brisbane) relating to a dispute under an agreement for the sale of interests in certain upstream assets (which resulted in an extremely favourable settlement for the client following a contested merits hearing). Western Australian law applied.
- Securing an award in excess of US$150 million for a multinational commodity trading company in an UNCITRAL arbitration against the Government of Ghana arising from a power purchase agreement. Ghanaian law applied.
- Advising a global financial institution in an LCIA arbitration arising from a Middle East joint venture dispute. English and New York law applied.
- Representing a global construction group in a multimillion-dollar ICC arbitration concerning the delayed construction of a multi-purpose complex in Eastern Europe. Belarus law applied.
- Successfully representing a leading Korean distributor against its upstream supplier in a multimillion-dollar ICC arbitration. Korean law applied.
- Successfully representing several infrastructure funds in an ICSID arbitration against Spain arising from measures adversely affecting renewable investments (ICSID Case No. ARB/15/42).
- Securing a favourable settlement for an oil major in an UNCITRAL treaty arbitration against a Southeast Asian State concerning adverse tax measures.
Matters may have been completed before joining Paul Hastings.
Engagement & Publications
- Moderator, Fireside Chat with Audley Sheppard KC and Sir Bernard Rix, Global Disputes Summit, London, July 2024
- Speaker, “State Immunity – The Enforcement Court Perspective”, ICC YAAF, Frankfurt, June 2024
- Moderator, “Procedures and Behaviours”, ICCA Congress, Hong Kong, May 2024
- Speaker, “Investor-State Arbitration in 25 Years: Evolution or Extinction?”, QMUL-YSIAC Debate, April 2024
- Speaker, Young ICCA Skills Training Workshop: Cross Examination in International Arbitration, New Delhi, December 2023
- Moderator, Arbitration of Energy and Climate Change Disputes, Young ICCA-YCAP Event, Vancouver, June 2023
- Moderator, Young ICCA Debate, Paris Arbitration Week 2023 (“This House believes the impact of AI on arbitration is a distant pipedream, not an imminent reality”), March 2023
- Speaker, GAR Live Dubai Debate (“This house believes that arbitration should apply a binding doctrine of precedent”), November 2022
- Lexis Nexis Webinar, “Apparent Bias and Disclosure – Arbitration after Halliburton v Chubb”, March 2021
- Panel Member, “Rising Stars: Perspectives from a New Generation of Practitioners”, Harvard International Arbitration Conference 2020
- “Freezing Orders in Support of Arbitral Proceedings Seated in England: U&M Mining Zambia Ltd v Konkola Copper Mines Plc”, European International Arbitration Review, Volume 3, Issue 2 (2015)
Involvement
- Young ICCA Co-Chair (2021-2024)
- Vice-Chair (Advocacy), Racial Equality for Lawyers
- Peer Review Board Member, ICSID Review