I just love what I do

Zia Mody is the first and the last word on corporate mergers and acquisitions, securities law and private equity. Listed as one of the 25 most powerful businesswomen in India several times and one of India's 100 most powerful CEOs, she is a synonym for guts, determination and dynamism. She puts you at ease the moment you meet her. Speaking to the inspiring workaholic who strives for perfection is a sheer delight. Over to the dynamic lady...

What inspired you to change from being a counsel to starting a law firm?
I came back from New York in the early '80s, essentially to get married. Back then, there were really no M&As (Mergers and acquisitions) in India. Foreign Direct Investment had not opened, that only happened during Manmohan Singh's tenure in 1991. So what I came back to was the court and my father was a barrister in Delhi. I started practising in Mumbai. Every day, I would wear my band and gown and go to court. It was great fun actually. It was probably the most exciting 10 years of my life. That's when India opened up, all my friends, contacts, old clients I had looked after in New York wanted to invest in India. FDI opened up and so that sort of work began in full flow. I was keen to pursue my foreign assignments. For five years, I was trying to juggle both. Soon I found that being in court from 11 to 5 and then trying to be an M&A lawyer from 5 to 2 o'clock in the morning then getting ready for the next day in court at 11 am again was proving impossible. So gradually, I reduced my court practice and then finally gave up appearing in court. Even today at AZB & Partners (her law firm), one of my happiest moments is when I am strategising for a litigation. Even though I am primarily M&A and private equity-based, I stayed totally involved strategically in our major litigations. So for the cut and thrust strategy — how to plan this defence, how to execute this offense, very often, my litigation partners come and chat with me. When we win a case in court, that's when my adrenaline starts flowing. If we lose a case in court, I will be depressed for the next two hours. That's how I shifted focus. I moved because India opened up.

In spite of your heart being somewhere else, you still did something different? Because you were too young, nobody wanted to take you on. You did without any charges and still won the case. Please share.
There was this wonderful person the late Shyam Chainani. He used to be with the Bombay Environmental Action Group and would go around finding all these FSI violations in the city. Of course, all the builders had engaged the hotshot lawyers. Shyam could not get any senior except for Mr Atul Setalvad, who stood by us totally. All of us were juniors and BEAG was not paying us. We worked for free and we got the chance to open our mouth in court so that's how we really cut it or at least that's how I cut my teeth. We worked a lot for Shyam along with Maneck Davar, who was then a young inspiring reporter at Mid-Day and that's how we got our space in the court. We never charged, we learnt and we won almost all of our FSI cases — the biggest victory. We worked hard, we had good facts, the judges were with us and we had a great senior in Atul, we had a great champion in Shyam, we were all young passionate raring to go and it just converged.

You're known to work around the clock. Where do you get the energy from?
From God. So far, He has been kind. I think, I have traditionally put in very long days. It's not just something recent. In a typical day, you are attending conferences, meetings, speaking at events, guiding young lawyers in the firm who want to touch base or bounce off ideas. So really, as I put it, the 'quiet' time to think for me does not really start till about 10 pm because everybody has to get back to where they need to go. It's really when the office has eased out, it is quiet, I am on my own and I have finished the conference calls for the day, then I sit down with my set of 'to dos' — whether I have to think through carefully on a regulatory issue which a client has asked me to do or something else. I don't give that a two-minute thought. I give it the thought time the client is expecting. I can't do it during the day because the day is just simply too packed. I think, by and large, I just love what I do. It comes with passion for my work. Passion allows me to continue on a day-to-day basis with as much energy.

You have commanded immense respect in your profession. What advice would you like to share with up-and-coming professionals?
Sometimes, my fellow partners tell me I do get a bit aggressive, although I try to control myself. However, I think that young lawyers should understand that the better lawyer is not an adversarial, argumentative, abrasive one. It is a very well knowledgeable, honest and facilitating lawyer. There is no point walking into the room and scoring some stupid silly points and arguing for 45 minutes over it. It is a waste of time. So as you grow older, you learn to understand which are big asks and you learn the strategy of trading the small ones. There is no point of going on and on about a clause which could be better, but is not the end of the world. You probably want to move on to the next commercial clause which is much more important to your client. I think that younger lawyers, as they grow have to learn this art — which they do — but when you are younger you are naturally wanting to win every point. Learn to be strategic, not necessarily just argumentative.

You have three beautiful daughters who have their own careers and have built their own identity without your tag. Do they consult with you?
They are all very different. The eldest, Anjali is very creative but incredibly hard-working. She is passionate about her work and consults me more in terms of — if she needs any course corrections — 'do you think I should be going this way' or 'is this the right path to take generally?' If she has some IP contract or some other service contract then she sends it over to me to have a quick look at but I would attribute my eldest daughter's 'business path forward' outlook to Jaydev for sure. She is papa's girl.

Aarti is a lawyer. She has just passed her New York Bar. She will work in Manhattan so she obviously touches base a lot with me. While she was studying she would consult me — what she should be thinking about or which courses to take or what her paper should be looking like in terms of structure.
Aditi is looking to move to New York for a year or two to study films. I think she's still trying to discover what she loves the most. Again, she turns to her father most of the time.
All of them turn to me for the softer issues like they would to any mother but I must say that Jaydev is a far more engaged father than most fathers I know. The girls spend a lot of time with him talking about the way forward, what they like, what they don't and of course, the most important thing of all, is that Jaydev spoils them rotten.

On a lighter note, tell us about the romance in your life — with the tough exterior you have, it is obvious that you are a romantic at heart. How did you get wooed by Jaydev?
This is an old childhood sweetheart story. Jaydev was my boy-next-door and we would pretend to play cricket and bowl and bat till it would get so dark you could not see the ball or the bat. I used to be very fond of riding, so he would come to the racecourse and do a fairly bad job of riding, so we could be together. As the years went on, it was just something that was very special. I think even today, as I always tell my children, my best friend in the world is my husband. I look to him for criticism. I look to him to pull me down to the ground. I look to him to tell me when I am being nonsensical and I trust his advice because I know he does it because he loves me. Our partnership is very strong. We generally respect the big thing the other cares about so that helps and frankly, I think you become even closer as you live through your children.
I think our children are very grounded because of the relationship I share with my husband. You do not see us squabbling nonstop. Of course we argue, but it lasts about five minutes. The children almost always take my side so that does not help Jaydev. Mama's always right. It's a happy household and that helps. We just do not get enough time with the children — they now have their own programmes. We have to fight for a weekend, fight for Christmas — God forbid you ask them for New Year.

With such a hectic schedule, you have been able to balance a good marriage, What is the secret to it?
Everybody needs their own space. Everybody needs to compromise at times. As partners, we have immense pride in each other's achievements. We are both very secure as professionals. Both of us have done exceptionally well in terms of our talent and are able to reach a certain sense of fulfillment. Jaydev is very low-key. I am much more outgoing, he is a much quieter personality. I am much more chatty but somehow, you know, even the quiet moments are good moments.

What relaxes you the most?
Other than work, a good night's sleep. Besides that, I love travelling. I try to take three days off. Sometimes, we plan a 10 day-trip and try and take snatches of life and time just to unwind, shoot the breeze, go to some places we have not been to before. I keep telling Jaydev to come with me to Vietnam and Cambodia, he has not obliged me yet. But we have our favourites also. Jaydev loves Kenya and so do I, we like to go there for safari. We have our favourite spots in Goa. We have a lovely house in Mahabaleshwar where we try and get away to sometimes. Both of us love good food and watching movies. There again, Jaydev likes all these action-packed movies. We have watched The Godfather about 20 times together, that's Jaydev's choice and that's my compromise.