UPES School of Law Hosts ‘Adapt or Perish’ Conference in Delhi
Initiates Crucial Dialogue on the Future of Indian Arbitration
New Delhi, 23 June 2025 — The School of Law at UPES successfully hosted the second edition of the high-powered legal conference series ‘Adapt or Perish’ in New Delhi. The event featured ‘Indian Arbitration at a Crossroads: Reform, Resistance and the Future as an Arbitration Hub’ as the key theme, bringing together some of India’s most respected legal minds, policymakers, academics, and industry experts. The evening featured keynote addresses by Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) Vikramajit Sen, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) Hemant Gupta, Chairperson, India International Arbitration Centre, followed by lively roundtable discussions and a panel session that examined the structural and cultural challenges facing India’s arbitration ecosystem.
The conference provided a unique platform for dialogue on six critical themes, including India’s shifting stance on arbitration, lag in India’s arbitration, arbitrator accountability, ethics and autonomy, judicial interference, the enforcement dilemma and the future of Indian arbitration. By bringing together diverse stakeholders in an immersive and participatory setting, Adapt or Perish initiated meaningful discourse on strengthening India’s position as a trusted and forward-looking arbitration hub. Discussions culminated in mapping out a strategic pathway through meaningful participation from attendees, generating rich insights and practical recommendations for reform and advancement in the field.
Opening the evening, Dr. Abhishek Sinha, Dean, UPES School of Law, remarked, “India stands at a defining juncture in its arbitration journey. Through Adapt or Perish, we are convening a collective of thinkers and doers to unpack the challenges, question the defaults, and imagine a more coherent, credible, and globally-aligned arbitration ecosystem for the country. It is essential that our legal education institutions lead this transformation from the front.”
Over the years School of Law at UPES has built a legacy of legal excellence with a technological edge. UPES School of Law is also home to pioneering initiatives such as India’s first AR-VR Legal Lab, a fully immersive virtual legal training space, and ABSIN, the country’s first AI-powered digital law professor. The School’s strategic partnership with SETU Aayog, Government of Uttarakhand, has also led to the creation of a unique Public Law and Policy Lab, enabling students to engage directly with policy innovation and legal reform projects.
Ranked 3rd in the North Zone by BW Legal World and 28th in India by the NIRF Rankings 2024, UPES School of Law has emerged as a premier centre for legal education in India. Known for its integration of classical legal training with contemporary practices, the school offers students a future-focused curriculum enriched by global collaborations with top-tier universities such as King’s College London, the University of California, Berkeley, and UNSW Sydney, among others.
Through initiatives like the Adapt or Perish conference, the school continues to shape discourse, influence reform, and foster a generation of legal professionals equipped to meet global challenges with local insight.