An eminent lawyer has recently chronicled memoirs of his biggest cases in a new book titled ‘Honour Bound’. In his recent book, Sarosh Zaiwalla, founder of London-based law firm, Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors charts his journey into the English courts ever since he first entered the country in 1970.
Zaiwalla, who expertises in arbitration, litigation and mediation has recorded victory in dozens of high-profile legal battles. In the past he has represented several politicians, diplomats and former ambassadors including fomer British PM Tony Blaire, former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Iraqi President Saddam Hussain and Iran's Bank Mellat. In the late 1980''s Zaiwalla had also represented Ajitabh Bachchan (actor Amitabh Bachchan''s brother) against the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nhyeter that alleged that Ajitabh held the sixth account in the Bofors' ''kickbacks''.
In his book Zaiwalla delves into the history of the Parsi culture, recounting memories of his father's upbringing and explains his fortune of “meeting the right people at the right times and in the right places” in London. He is refreshingly candid of the struggles of establishing himself among the mainstream English legal circles at a time when Indian lawyers were rare to be found in the City. However, in the process he is sometimes also muddled in his facts. Case in point being the time when he recounts being invited by Publisher/Editor of Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice CB Patel. In his book, Zaiwalla recalls, being invited by CB, “the publisher of Gujarati-language weekly newspaper Asian Voice”.
In another such controversy, Mani Shankar Aiyar, a Congress top-brass leader insisted that there was much more to Bofors incident than what has been mentioned in the book by the Zaiwalla. Aiyar claimed that claimed that he had never ever discussed Bofors with Rajiv Gandhi, and that Gandhi had no role to play in the alleged payoffs.
Today, Zaiwallla insists that the British society is classist, but not racist persisting that the country values fairness and integrity.
''Honour Bound'' is published by HarperCollins and was launched at the India International Centre.
