A waiter at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower’s Sea Lounge is walking towards the only occupied table overlooking the Gateway of India, where I sit across from one of the country’s top transaction lawyers, Zia Mody. She sifts through her plastic when I pounce on the moment I dread: negotiating with a woman known for skilful negotiation.
Zia Mody
“We have a budget for this,” I say. She pauses, wallet and credit card in hand. “I have to come back with a receipt,” I add quickly, with a shrug to emphasize that there is nothing I can do. “If that’s the rule,” and the card slips back in.
My successful block is partly due to the fact that I had been listening closely to Mody about 90 minutes earlier when we first sat. “Think in advance of what could become a dispute and how you would pre-empt it.”
She was talking about the best lesson she learnt when she was arguing in court for almost a decade, before she founded the law firm that is today favoured by most top industrial houses: AZB & Partners.
“What did you like about litigation?” I ask. Mody looks out towards the Arabian Sea and says: “I loved, the sort of...” she searches and comes up with only one word: “Winning.”
This is my first piece of the Zia Mody puzzle. It is no mistake that there are countless movies, television shows, and books that star relentlessly successful lawyers and we relish watching them win. I want to know how she does it.
So far, it’s been a great year for Mody. Her firm was advisor to the two largest cross border deals in India’s history: Tata Steel’s $12 billion (Rs48,000 crore) purchase of Anglo-Dutch Corus Group Plc and Aditya Birla group-owned Hindalco Industries Ltd takeover of Atlanta-based aluminum firm Novelis Inc. for $6.4 billion.
We chat for more than 15 minutes before we order. Mody opts for sevpuri and coffee. We weave through topics including the growth of India’s companies, religion, parents and children, and her own evolution in life and work. Every sentence is punctuated by her easy smile, every paragraph by her hearty laugh. Her look—floral print, accessorized with a simple pearl necklace, her face devoid of make-up and her natural hair— makes her personality pop all the more.
She knows it all works for her. Mody says she can be more blunt than most at the negotiating table. “Well, I can get away with it because I am a woman. I think they accept a little more abruptness from a woman. Yeah, you know, because I say it with a smile,” she says (with a smile). “In any case, people expect me to be mad.”