Pranay Jha
Pupil
Pranay commenced pupillage at One Essex Court in October 2025.
Pranay was previously an Associate at Allens, a leading Australian law firm which operates in alliance with Linklaters. At Allens, he worked on various high profile first instance and appellate cases. He was also a Judicial Assistant at the NSW Supreme Court where he worked on close to 50 commercial cases.
Pranay graduated from the Bachelor of Laws at the University of Sydney with First Class Honours, and from the Bachelor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford with a Distinction overall, and with Distinctions in each of his papers. At Oxford, he was also awarded the Peter Birks Prize for ranking first in his cohort in Restitution of Unjust Enrichment.
Alongside practice, Pranay maintains an academic interest in the law, having published articles on various private law topics in leading legal journals and tutoring commercial remedies at the University of Sydney.
-
Career
- Allens, Associate (Commercial Disputes), 2022-2024
- NSW Supreme Court, Tipstaff (Judicial Assistant), 2023
- University of Sydney, Sessional Academic, 2023
-
Scholarships & Awards
- Peter Birks Prize for Restitution of Unjust Enrichment (2025) (University of Oxford)
- JB Watt Travelling Scholarship (2024) (University of Sydney in support of BCL at Oxford)
- Ivan Roberts Scholarship (2024) (University of Sydney in support of BCL at Oxford)
- Walter Reid Memorial Prize for Law Honours (2021) (University of Sydney)
- University of Sydney Academic Merit Prize (2021) (University of Sydney)
- University of Sydney Dean’s List of Academic Excellence (2021) (University of Sydney)
- Public Law Prize (2019) (University of Sydney)
- Vice Chancellor’s Global Mobility Scholarship (2018) (University of Sydney)
-
Publications
- P Jha ‘Equitable compensation for distress in commercial contexts’ (2025) 50(2) Monash University Law Review 1.
- P Jha and H Higgins ‘Problems with universal characterisations: the nature of third-party liability for breach of confidence and its remedial significance’ (2024) 98 Australian Law Journal 763
- P Jha ‘A Clearer Accounts Rule: Challenging the Inflexible Application of the Clear Accounts Rule’ (2024) 47(3) Melbourne University Law Review 635.
- P Jha and A Zheng ‘Constructive Notice and Passive Retention Scenarios in Unconscionable Conduct Cases’ (2023) 37(1) Commercial Law Quarterly 4
-
Selected Matters (as solicitor)
Appellate
- Acting for Insurance Australia Group Limited in special leave application to the High Court of Australia arising from business interruption insurance test cases.
- Acting for the appellant in Marino v Bello (No 3) [2022] NSWCA 181, special leave application concerning scope of tort of abuse of process.
Class Actions:
- Acting for CIMIC Group Limited in a shareholder class action alleging breach of continuous disclosure obligations in respect of CIMIC’s Middle East operations.
- Acting for Insurance Australia Group Limited in a shareholder class action alleging breach of continuous disclosure obligations in respect of its business interruption policies.
- Acting for Insurance Australia Group Limited in a policyholder class action in respect of its business interruption policies.
Regulatory Investigations
- Acting for a major bank in a regulatory investigation concerning alleged breaches of section 912A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
- Acting for the trustee of a superannuation fund in respect of alleged breaches of obligations under section 52 of the Superannuation Industries (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth).
Environmental Social and Governance Litigation
- Acting for a major bank in relation to a request to inspect books by shareholders under section 247A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
- Advising a major bank in relation to potential liability arising in respect of compliance with ESG policies.
- Advising a major bank in relation to potential liability arising in respect of compliance with human rights policies.
Public Law
- Acting for a client in respect of claims under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) against the New South Wales Police Force.
- Advising a client in respect of section 48B and section 417 requests for Ministerial Intervention under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth).