13/09/2026
What if I told you that, according to a famous joke by Ram Jethmalani, the Partition of India might have been caused by a lawyer who refused to pay Jinnah an extra 25 rupees a month?
It sounds absurd. But behind that humorous story is a fascinating lesson about ambition, professional worth, and integrity—one that resonates deeply with me as a young lawyer.
After being called to the Bar, Muhammad Ali Jinnah initially started his legal practice in Karachi. As a member of the Khoja community, he believed that the community’s wealthy businessmen could potentially become his ready-made clients. His intention was to build his practice primarily on the commercial side of law.
At that time, Jinnah tried to join the firm of a senior lawyer named Harichand. After interviewing him, Harichand considered Jinnah suitable for the position.
Jinnah asked for a salary of 100 rupees a month.
But the elderly Harichand was willing to pay only 75 rupees,believing that a newly qualified barrister should not be paid more than that.
Years later, Ram Jethmalani would often joke that Jinnah was not responsible for the Partition of India—the miserly Harichand was!
His humorous argument was simple: if Harichand had agreed to pay Jinnah just 25 rupees more per month,perhaps Jinnah would never have entered politics. And perhaps, in that alternate history, India and Pakistan might never have been partitioned.
Whether the joke has any historical truth or not, it captures something fascinating about Jinnah’s ambition.
When Jinnah later practised at the Bombay High Court, his sharp intellect and exceptional legal ability caught the attention of a British barrister, who invited him to join his chambers and offered him 1,500 rupees a month.
Jinnah reportedly replied with remarkable confidence:
I plan to earn 1,500 rupees a day after some time.
And he eventually did.
Jinnah built a successful practice in areas such as Muslim succession, Waqf and property-related matters. At the time, disputes involving royal families and wealthy landlords over inheritance and enormous estates were common. These clients could afford to pay substantial professional fees for an exceptionally capable lawyer.
At one stage, Jinnah fixed his fee at 500 rupees per hearing
A local ruler once requested that he reduce his fee because he expected the case to continue for a long time and feared that the legal expenses would become enormous.
Jinnah refused to reduce his fee.
But something remarkable happened.
He won the case in only three hearings.
The grateful client paid him 5,000 rupees.
Jinnah kept only 1,500 rupees the amount corresponding to his agreed professional fee—and returned the rest.
His reasoning was straightforward:
Taking more than the agreed professional fee was unprofessional.
As an Apprentice Lawyer at the Dhaka Bar ,this part of Jinnah’s story resonates with me the most.
The legal profession is not only about knowledge, arguments, or winning cases. It is also about knowing your professional worth, maintaining your principles, and respecting the trust that a client places in you.
Know your worth. Charge what you are worth. But once you agree on a fee, honour it.
Because a lawyer’s reputation is worth far more than any single fee.
A good lawyer does not simply win cases.
A good lawyer also protects the dignity of the profession.
— Sohag An Nafis
Apprentice Lawyer, Dhaka Bar
