Arshad (Paku) Khan, former Executive Director of Khaitan & Co, passes away

Arshad (Paku) Khan, former Executive Director of Khaitan & Co's United States Desk and Competition/Antitrust Law, passed away recently.

Khan, who was based in both the San Francisco Bay Area and in New Delhi, was one of the most experienced competition law experts.

He held a law degree from Vanderbilt Law School, Nashville and had a career spanning over 34 years. His expertise covered areas such as competition, merger control, corporate and related litigation.

Khan had practiced competition law in both the United States and the European Union (EU). He had also served as a competition regulator in these jurisdictions. Before joining Khaitan & Co, he served as Director of Competition Law at erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas from 2010 to 2012.

He was known for his extensive global experience in handling cases related to cartels and abuse of dominance. He had successfully worked on such cases in various countries worldwide, including the United States and Ireland.

He was also involved as a lead lawyer on numerous complex merger cases in India, the EU and the US, including high-profile cases like Ryanair’s attempted acquisitions of the Irish airline Aer Lingus and Heineken's acquisition of parts of Scottish & Newcastle.

Amar Sinhji, Executive Director of Khaitan & Co, said,

"The news of Paku Khan’s demise came as a complete shock to all of us. Paku was with our Firm from 2012 until April of 2023 when he moved on for personal reasons. He played an invaluable role towards building our Competition practice in India & abroad. He played a very positive role in helping with overall Firm management too. Paku was a much-loved & cherished colleague and an empathetic leader. His legacy will remain alive with us. We pray for his soul to rest in peace and for God to give his Family the strength to deal with their immense loss.”