My late father was a solicitor. In 1925 he became one of the first, if not the first, Indians to qualify as an English solicitor. I trained at Stocken & Co in Fleet Street. They were maritime lawyers.

The hardest challenges I faced as a lawyer came in my early years of practice. The City of London had never seen a solicitors’ firm started by an Indian and there were racial hurdles, albeit perhaps unconsciously placed ones, which had to be overcome. Succeeding was made much easier by the warmth and support I received from the majority in the City of London.

I found almost all other lawyers very courteous, even in difficult cases. At an early stage of my career, a lawyer from a major firm was rude to me on the phone. I wrote to the senior partner, and to my surprise he came to my office with that lawyer, who apologised to me. The senior partner told me that discourtesy is not acceptable in the profession.

In the UK, a lawyer does not have to lie for his client. He can protect the client’s interest by sheer intelligence and truth. The hardest clients are those who try to become close to me as a friend. Once that happens, it is very difficult to manage them later. I therefore have a policy to be respectful and courteous to clients but to refrain from being personal friends while there is a professional relationship.

When I started, the profession was run in the style of a Dickens novel. With the ‘big bang’ in the City of London, the large City firms have been more Americanised and the cost of legal services is now many times what it was when I started. I do not think there are too many lawyers. Our democracies are governed by the rule of law, and there is a place for many lawyers.

The current opportunities are far greater than those which existed when I started my career. If I were starting out now, I would begin with a much more modern outlook and take full advantage of the changing technology and forms of communication which are available. Over the years I have mostly looked for clients from overseas, and this has required me to spend countless days travelling.

  • Zaiwalla, principal, Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors, is pictured above left with the Dalai Lama on a recent trip to India.