Shyam Divan practices as a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India. His areas of practice cover constitutional law, and most branches of civil litigation including banking, securities law, arbitration, administrative law, and environmental law.
He has appeared in several constitutional cases decided by the Supreme Court including Justice KS Puttaswamy-I v. Union of India (Declaring privacy as a fundamental right); Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (decriminalising homosexuality); Justice KS Puttaswamy-II v. Union of India (a challenge to the biometric programme called ‘Aadhaar’); Indore Development Authority v. Manohar Lal (recusal by a Supreme Court judge); and Rajeev Suri v. Delhi Development Authority (Central Vista Project).
Shyam is the co-author of Environmental Law and Policy in India and has authored several book chapters on diverse topics including public interest litigation, civil liberties and biometrics, privacy, and the Constitution.
Shyam is vice president of the LAWASIA, as well as the Bar Association of India. He received the 2021 International Privacy Champion Award from the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) for his role in a set of privacy protection cases. He is also a trustee at the Independent Public Spirited Media Foundation, Bengaluru, and a member of the governing board of the Centre for Policy Research.
