Sr. Advocate & Former ASG Pinky Anand Appointed Judge in Bahrain International Commercial Court

Senior Advocate Pinky Anand, who served as the Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) from 2014–2020 has been appointed a judge of the newly constituted Bahrain International Commercial Court (BICC).

Anand, a veteran with more than four decades at the bar was formally appointed to the BICC through a Royal Decree issued by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on the proposal of the Prime Minister and with Cabinet approval. The BICC, which is scheduled to begin operations on November 5, 2025 now has Pinky Anand among the members of its Dispute Resolution Panels.

Royal Decree (63) of 2025 lists Joan Donoghue, Dr Pinky Anand, Judge Abdulrahman Al Sayed Mohammed Al Sayed Ahmed, Judge Khalid Hassan Ali Ajaji, Dr Mohammed Salah Abdelwahab, Aysha Abdullah Mohammed Mutaywea, Chiann Bao and Philippe Pinsolle as appointees.

A Harvard Law graduate and Inlaks scholar, Anand is also an Honorary Professor at Amity Law School, a door tenant at No. 5 Barristers’ Chambers in London and a recipient of the French National Order of Merit.

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Pinky Anand stands on the footing of a stellar career spanning constitutional, civil, arbitration and criminal law. She has represented India on international platforms including BRICS organization and was a founding member of the BRICS Legal Forum.

Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal hailed the appointment as testimony to India’s rising stature in international arbitration and commercial dispute resolution.

Anand has emphasised that the role will not require relocation and that she will continue her full-time practice in India while discharging BICC duties remotely or through periodic visits to Bahrain. Anand has indicated that judges will be sworn in at a ceremony attended by the Bahraini monarchy and the Prime Minister on November 5.

The BICC

The Bahrain International Commercial Court is modelled on the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) and is designed to handle complex cross-border commercial disputes in English and Arabic and to provide an appellate pathway in Dispute Resolution.

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English-language cases may be appealed to the international committee of the SICC, while Arabic-language judgments or matters where the parties so agree, can be heard by a BICC appellate tribunal.

The Court’s roster overall now comprises 17 judges, seven women and ten men.

The court forms a centrepiece of Bahrain’s “Team Bahrain” and the Global Justice Bay initiative, with its inauguration coinciding with the King Hamad Lecture on “Neutral Justice” and an international conference on transnational courts.

For India’s legal fraternity, Anand’s elevation to the BICC bench underscores a win in India’s position in growing cross-border judicial cooperation and global dispute resolution fora.

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