Gopal Subramanium Keynote Speaker

Gopal Subramanium SA is Senior Advocate (equivalent to Queen’s Counsel) who practises at the Indian Supreme Court, former Solicitor General of India (2009-11), a global lawyer, international commercial arbitrator, academic and highly sought-after speaker.

Mr. Subramanium’s career spans over 30 years. He studied law at the University of Delhi, trained under former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee, and was one of India’s youngest to be designated a Senior Advocate suo-motu by the Supreme Court in 1993. He is known for his rigorous style and for acting on cases that have shaped legislative principles on privacy, human rights, and freedom of speech internationally.

Gopal Subramanium has acted for Amazon, Google, Novartis, and appeared as lead counsel for corporates in ICC and domestic arbitrations. He was one of the first Indian Senior Advocates to appear before the High Court of Singapore in April 2018 and the first Indian Senior Advocate to appear before the Singapore Court of Appeal in February 2020. He is a Supplementary Judge at the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Tribunal and in 2009, was conferred the National Law Day Award for Outstanding Jurist by the President of India.

As Solicitor General of India (2009-11), he successfully defended the conviction of the sole surviving terrorist of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and acted for petitioners in a historic case that held there is a fundamental constitutional right to privacy in India. He also served on the JS Verma Commission, is Former Chairman of the Bar Council of India, and is a former Additional Solicitor General of India.

He is a leading international commercial arbitrator and has appeared in several matters before the Indian Supreme Court and various High Courts. He is Head of Chambers at the Chambers of Gopal Subramanium, an Honorary Master of the Bench at The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn and in March 2021, he was called to the Bar of England and Wales. He was also appointed an Associate Member at 3 Verulam Buildings.

In recognition of his scholarly contributions within legal philosophy, writing on democracy, social inequality, civic education, constitutional law, mental health and the applicability of psychology to legal concepts, he was elected a Foundation Fellow of Somerville College, the University of Oxford in 2019.

Mr. Subramanium is the Founder of the Subramanium Study Centre in Oxford, which aims to advance understanding of mental health disorders by bringing together experts from a variety of fields and providing a foundation for inter-disciplinary collaboration.

He is a passionate supporter of the arts, music, education, and mental health causes. In 2020, he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in the UK. He is also a Classical Music Patron at London’s Southbank Centre; Ambassador of mental health charity SANE; and Honorary Director of the All India Heart Foundation, the leading cardiac charity.

Speaking Topics

• Constitutional law
• Human rights
• Privacy
• Mental health
• Psychiatry