American Lawyer chief European correspondent Chris Johnson meets regularly with senior figures in the legal world at their favorite breakfast joints to chew over the industry’s tastiest talking points. Johnson’s guest this week is Sarosh Zaiwalla, the first Asian lawyer to establish a law firm in the City of London. On the menu: Iran’s nuclear program, Gandhi, and how to make yourself unpopular.
Sarosh Zaiwalla has to be the most likeable unpopular person I’ve ever met. The Indian-born founder of Zaiwalla & Co, an 18-lawyer boutique that he claims in 1982 became the first City of London law firm to be established by an Asian lawyer, Zaiwalla is charming and cheery, a broad smile permanently fixed to his face throughout our 90-minute meeting. He’s also quite the raconteur, with a seemingly endless collection of colorful anecdotes about representing members of the Gandhi family and hiring a young barrister named Tony Blair. Personable as he is, though, professionally he has made a habit of taking on cases that have bent the noses of more than a few very important people out of shape.
