Birkett Long is delighted to announce that Senior Associate, Suryen Nullatamby, has been named as Company and Commercial Lawyer of the Year at the Asian Legal Awards 2022.

The Asian Legal Awards ceremony took place on Saturday 15 October at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. These premier legal awards champion and celebrate legal excellence in the Asian community and are designed to recognise specialists within the legal world who go above and beyond for their clients. In addition to Suryen’s award in company and commercial law, four other awards were handed out: one in the field of criminal law and one in civil law, as well as recognition of a rising star and lifetime achievement.

Suryen is one of a handful of specialist construction lawyers from the Asian community in the UK but he is nationally recognised. According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, 12% solicitors practising in the UK are of South Asian heritage. Through his leadership and professionalism – as well as his campaigns for diversity and inclusivity – Suryen has built sound working relationships with many property developers and contractors from white, Asian, and other communities throughout the UK.

Suryen, who is a Senior Associate Solicitor and head of Birkett Long’s South Essex dispute resolution team, dual qualified as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales with Higher Court Rights of Audience (Civil Proceedings) in 2013, having previously been a practising barrister of the Supreme Court of Mauritius (he was called to the Bar in 2004).

Born on the island of Mauritius, Suryen joined the army and spent 4 years in the police, he then worked as an Internal Auditor for a commercial bank for 3 years before leaving to study law. He completed his studies at the University of London. Having practised law for over 17 years, Suryen has 12 years’ experience in the field of construction.

He specialises in construction and engineering law and holds an MSc in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution from King’s College London. At Birkett Long, Suryen leads a large team of dispute resolution lawyers, where he has achieved his aim of creating a team in which at least one-third are from diverse or Asian backgrounds.

Alongside his day-to-day work, Suryen sits as an adjudicator and arbitrator and is regularly appointed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK Adjudicators, and the Construction Industry Council. Of the 129 Construction Adjudicators in the UK on the RICS panel, Suryen is one of only two from an Asian background.

Everyone at Birkett Long is delighted and proud of Suryen’s achievements. When asked for his own reaction to his award he said: “I am grateful to the Asian Legal Awards for acknowledging my efforts. It feels great to have achieved this level of recognition; this is a very proud moment for me as it has taken years of hard work and sacrifice to get to this point.”