Street legal: Zia Mody

Zia Mody
54, Managing Partner, AZB & Partners
(Number of times in BT's Most Powerful list: 6)

Biggest achievement in 2010: Clear domination in M&A legal advisory Being a powerful woman is important because: It enables you to achieve change in the workplace and people listen and take you seriously Tip for work-life balance: De-prioritise the unimportant and recognise that everything does not need micro-management A workplace without women is like: A plant without water, a bird with one wing

This writer waited for Zia Mody along with a young lady at her South Mumbai office - she had come to be interviewed at Mody's law firm, AZB & Partners. Half of those who work at AZB Partners are women. "We try and nurture young women lawyers in their careers through the difficult patches of marriage and bringing up children with sensitivity and understanding," says Mody.

It is working well. AZB advised on the biggest transactions in 2010 - Bharti-Zain, Fortis-Parkway as well as Vedanta-Cairn (which has not been completed yet). "We have become one of the first points of call in any major merger and acquisition transaction," says Mody.
-Suman Layak

The 30 Most Powerful Women
1.Schauna Chauhan 2.Zarin Daruwala 3.Lynn de Souza 4.Tanya Dubash 5.Shyamala Gopinath 6.Vinita Gupta 7.Kaku Nakhate 8.Vedika Bhandarkar 9.Manisha Girotra 10.Lalita Gupte 11.Usha Narayanan 12.Akhila Srinivasan 13.Leena Nair 14.Vinita Bali 15.Chanda Kochhar	16.Roopa Kudva 17.Naina Lal Kidwai 18.Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw 19.Zarina Mehta 20.Zia Mody 21.Kalpana Morparia 22.Vishakha Mulye 23.Swati Piramal 24.Meher Pudumjee 25.Madhabi Puri Buch 26.Chitra Ramkrishna 27.Preetha Reddy 28.Shikha Sharma 29.Mallika Srinivasan 30.Sangeeta Talwar