One of the most celebrated corporate lawyers in India, Zia Mody has made her mark in a male-dominated profession, thanks to her razor-sharp mind, great negotiation skills and sheer hard work. At her Mumbai-headquartered law firm AZB & Partners - co-founded by Ajay (Bahl), Zia (Mody) and Bahram (Vakil) - she is known as the only person who carries both her lunch and dinner to work. Daughter of Soli Sorabjee, a constitutional expert and the former attorney general of India, Mody decided to take a different route to stake her claim to fame and won all the way. From just about 25 lawyers, AZB now boasts a team of 450-plus and caters to several marquee clients, including Fortune 500 companies, MNCs, investment banks and private equity firms.
Mody started her career as a corporate associate in the New York office of Baker & McKenzie before returning to India. Next, she set up the Chambers of Zia Mody (CZM), which became AZB & Partners in 2004. She is a B.A. (Law) from Cambridge, an LLM from Harvard and is qualified to practise law in India and New York, being a member of the New York State Bar. Mody has also been drafted to several policymaking committees, including those on competition law review and corporate governance.