Ram Jethmalani

Ram Jethmalani (Hindi: राम जेठ्मलानी, Sindhi: رام جيٺملاڻي), born 14 September 1923) is an Indian lawyer and politician. He has served in various posts such as Union Law Minister and Chairman of Bar Associations. He has represented a sweep of cases from the high-profile to the controversial for which he has often faced severe criticism. He is the highest paid Indian lawyer. The family inherits its surname Jethmalani from Shri Jethmal who was a personality in Shikarpur,Now in Pakistan and later a minister in Afghanistan.

Ram Jethmalani is known as a legal personality. Jethmalani is considered a maverick and has many distinctions to his credit. He completed his law at an early age of 18 and started professing law there until the partition of India after which when left his hometown and shifted to Mumbai as a refugee. He came to India with his family and began his life fresh. He married Ratna Jethmalani, his first wife, in 1947, and Durga, his second wife. He has 2 sons and 2 daughters, two of whom, Mahesh Jethmalani and Rani Jethmalani are also well known lawyers.

He was elected a member of parliament in 6th and 7th Lok Sabha on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket from Mumbai. He has served as Law Minister of India and also as Minister of Urban Development during the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee against whom he later on contested election in General Elections 0f 2004 from Lucknow constituency. However in 2010 he came back to BJP and was elected to Rajya Sabha on its ticket from Rajasthan. He has also been criticised as being opportunistic because of this.

He is a well known face amongst the legal community in India. Even though he is primarily known as only a criminal lawyer, he has appeared in many high profile cases. On 7 May 2010 he was elected to be the president of Supreme Court Bar Association.