The profession of law, being considered as a noble one, cannot remain noble simply by calling it as such, unless there is a robust presence of legal consultants that have the grace, dignity and prestige towards this profession along with deep proficiency and experience. An ace legal consultant always looks into the case with a flawless objectivity, integrity and accessibility blended with resilient courtroom skills and perseverance. Such consultant’s central focus always remains to be serving their clients in a time-bound efficient manner. And they believe in safeguarding the genuine rights of their clients as their topmost obligation. Zia Mody is one such seasoned legal consultant, who has made a strong mark in the field of legal services with her deep expertise, experience and passion for providing justice to her clients.
Zia is a woman of liberal thoughts and a flamboyant style. She has a humongous treasure of legal proficiency which she has earned through 30+ years of rigorous practice. Currently, she is the Founder and Managing Partner of AZB & Partner. Zia has successfully catered to varied Multinationals clients for their corporate merger and acquisition, securities, private equity and finance related assignments and that’s made her the right person to consult for the said services whenever required. Right from her childhood, she started learning the fundamentals of legal business from her father, Soli Sorabjee, a celebrated legal consultant who has served as the Attorney General of India.
Changing Times with Erosion of Stereotypical Mindset
Back, in the1980 when Zia had started practicing as a Counsel in Bombay High Court, she had many times experienced the incredulous expression from the clients, regarding the competency of a woman for delivering justice as superior as their male counterparts do. Being born and brought in an erudite family, she never experienced gender inequality on a larger part of her life and certainly not on the dining table. But, those doubtful courtroom expressions were really disappointing and unacceptable for her. Today, she feels glad that the perception about the competency of women has started changing from the core and women are now no longer considered less than men in any field. She is even delighted to see that women are now doing exceptionally well in all the areas of life and even outperforming men in many fields, and living with a better sense of economic and social liberty as compare to the 1980.
Experiences Prior to AZB and Partners
The esteemed Cambridge University and Harvard Law School are Zia’s alma mater from where she had instilled the nitty-gritty of legal business and pursued LLB and LLM respectively. Her erudite nature helped her to pass the prestigious New York State Bar examination, and qualified her as an attorney in the State of New York. While working for the renowned Multinational legal firm, Baker & McKenzie in New York City for over a period of five years, she gained meaningful insights of the legal business and thought of starting her own legal firm. On the call of her fiancé, she gracefully returned to India, got married and later started her own law chamber, Chambers of Zia Mody. CZB and Partners is another important firm which she has founded and associated with, prior to AZB & Partner.
Traits and Recognitions earned by Zia
The ability to build trust and developing a sense of fairness among coworkers and clients, while leading from the front are the greatest traits which a leader should have. Zia believes in developing a higher sense of Emotional Quotient rather than Intelligent Quotient help a person in learning and lead towards the path of enlightenment. These traits and beliefs has shaped her personality and made Zia the living legend of the legal consulting world.
In the past decade, she has won many prestigious awards and has been recognized as one of the top Businesswomen in the country and the world. Some of her extraordinary achievements includes; Financial Express’s ‘ Knowledge Professional of the Year Award’; The Economic Times’ ‘ 100 Most Powerful CEOs’ awards; Business Today’s ‘25 most powerful business women in India’ awards; Economic Times’ ‘Awards for Corporate Excellence Businesswoman’; and most recently Zia has also been ranked amongst the top ‘5 Most Powerful Businesswomen in India’ by Fortune India.
She is also a distinguished member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India‘s Standing Committee on Mutual Funds, and the Capital Market Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
About AZB and Partners
AZB is India’s one of the largest and reputed law firm with a robust presence of 400+ highly proficient attorneys. Rational approach, continuous engagement with clear objectivity and strong courtroom experience has made AZB the first choice for taking legal advice among its clients. Loyal client base and quality of existing barristers are riding AZB to greater heights with each passing year. But Zia has superior vision; she wants to upgrade AZB to many notches higher and working hard to make it as one of the supreme law firms in India.
A Piece of Advice for Women Entrepreneurs
Zia believes that the mantra of success lies in “loving whatever you do” with diligence and passion. When one focus on something with meticulous attention and strong self-belief, then sooner or later the person gets an opportunity to taste success in life. Her advice for the budding women entrepreneurs is to develop a sense of confidence and be ready to face any difficult challenges, since, “challenges only makes a person much stronger than before and it often leads to beautiful destinations” asserts Zia.
Zia Mody: A Liberal and Flamboyant Lady of the Legal Universe
