Since 1990, he has been making appearances as an independent Counsel in the Supreme Court, various High Courts, Tribunals, and other judicial forums. From 1990 to 1992, he was an independent Counsel in the Chambers of Senior Advocate Arshad Hidayatullah and late M. Hidayatullah, former Vice-President of India and Retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. From 1992 to 1994, he was an independent Counsel in the Chambers of Rafiq Dada, ex-Additional Solicitor General of India and Senior Advocate.
From 1994 to 2001, Mr Shah established his own Chambers while continuing his appearances before the Supreme Court, various High Courts, Tribunals and other judicial forums. In September 2001, he founded the law firm, Economic Laws Practice (ELP), of which, he was the Founding Partner and Managing Partner up until his retirement on September 30, 2016.
The firm had a team of almost 150 lawyers, and was recognised as a pre-eminent firm for its expertise in the areas of Tax Litigation, Tax Advisory and World Trade Law issues (anti-dumping, safeguards, etc.) as well as in the areas of General Disputes Resolution and Litigation. In 2016, the RSG rating of Indian Law Firms placed ELP among the top ten law firms in India. With a view to return to full-time Counsel practice, Mr Shah retired from ELP on September 30, 2016. Since October 2016, he has been practicing as Counsel in the Supreme Court; various High Courts (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana); Tribunals (ITAT, CESTAT, NCLT, Central Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal and PMLA/FEMA Tribunal) and other judicial forums (International Commercial & Treaty Arbitrations, Advance Ruling Authority for Taxes).
Mr Shah has been named as a “Leading Global Lawyer” in Who’s Who Legal: Trade & Customs (2013 to 2018); “Tax Lawyer of the year” at the Legal Era Awards 2019; “Leading Lawyer in the Asia Pacific region” for 2019 by Benchmark Litigation Asia Pacific; “Leading Tax Lawyer in India for Taxation” 2009 to 2018 by Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific; “Leading Tax Lawyer in India” by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2005 to 2018; among the “200 Leading Tax Lawyers in the World” by International Tax Review 2010; among “100 Leading Tax Lawyers in the World” by Who’s Who Legal: Corporate Tax (2009); among “India’s Leading Tax Lawyers” by the Tax Directors Handbook 2007 to 2018; “Leading Global Lawyer” in Who’s Who Legal: Trade & Customs (2013 to 2018); exclusive winner of “Client Choice Awards” for the Corporate Tax Category (2014 and 2015 for India); “One of the Leading Indian Tax Lawyers on Issues of Tax Litigation” by the publication, Tax Controversy Leaders (2013 to 2018); “Leading Lawyer for Transfer Pricing Issues” by the publication World Transfer Pricing (2015); amongst the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in Asia” by the publication Asian Legal Business 2010.
According to Chambers Asia-Pacific 2018, Rohan Pradeep Shah, Counsel, Chambers of Rohan Shah, “is considered by market commentators to be 'a big name in the industry,' handling both direct and indirect tax matters. He has expertise in both advisory and litigation matters”. From 1987 to 1989, Mr Shah worked with Crawford Bayley & Co., Advocates & Solicitors, Mumbai as Legal Associate focusing on indirect and direct taxes under Senior Partner Dadi B. Engineer.
