For he was a Soli good fellow

Legal eaglersquo would be a tired and hackneyed phrase to describe the late Soli Sorabjee former attorneygeneral and literature lover with a passion for poetry So then ldquomaybe we should not call him anything at all instead simply put on a Miles Davis recording and raise a toastrdquo said senior advocate Iqbal Chagla ldquoThis is not a time to mourn but to celebrate his life At 91 one has lived a very full life Who better than Sorabjee to illustrate this He was attorneygeneral twice a great lawyer undoubtedly but more than that beyond the bar a friend a riveting conversationalist a man with varied interestsrdquoRaju Moray advocateFor Chagla sounds of Solitude will always include memories of jazz music ldquoHe was a jazz aficionado I remember conversations about writers readings from poetry which had the fizz of champagne warm family evenings where friends take comfort in the familiar delight in surprises My father and he had that chemistryrdquo explained Chagla about family bondsFor Chagla Sorabjeersquos varied interests ndash like for those who go beyond the confines of their profession however successful mdash gave him a 360degree world view Chagla said with a laugh ldquoTo be a lawyer is one of the most uninteresting driest of things Sorabjee transcended that He was also an avid race follower He would be at the Mahalaxmi race course years ago when in Mumbai at the crack of dawn noting down timings looking at the trackwork of the horsesrdquoFor advocate Ravi Goenka it is the three Cs that defined Soli Sorabjee best ldquoHe was cool calm and composedrdquo said Goenka ldquoI remember as a junior I had to go to his chamber once I felt some trepidation but that melted with his down to earth demeanour and equanimity He treated every lawyer like his son or daughterrdquoldquoTo those three Cs I would add others like court craftrdquo said solicitor Homiar N Vakil ldquoI recall my first appearance in the Supreme Court was with Soli Sorabjee We were granted an unconditional stay in the matter That was solely due to his court craft and consummate skill His expertise in constitutional law was tremendous He also fought the case for Zoroastrian societies where housing societies could be formed for a particular religion or grouprdquo In the end Vakil said ldquohe had a sense of humour often ribbing you good naturedly A man with jest and zest for life has left us with a very inspiring legacyrdquoAdvocate Raju Moray remembers meeting Soli Sorabjee at the latterrsquos Delhi bungalow in the 1990s one cold January morning ldquoHe was dressed in his night suit with a silken dressing gown and I remember then too there was such an aura about him absolutely regal and impressiverdquo Moray said he had filed a Public Interest Litigation PIL with reference to allotment of plots to municipalgovernment schools and Sorabjee was the lead counsel in the crucial admission stageHe said ldquoThe Supreme Court ruled in our favour and I remember his tremendous power of persuasion his absolute grasp of the subject as he explained the matter in two minutesrdquoMoray said labels like lsquolegendrsquo are used too lightly these days ldquoBut Sorabjee is certainly legendary We saw firsthand the ability to remember so many cases to perform like this it is truly extraordinary It is then that you understand why these persons earn the reputation that they have Legal groups on WhatsApp have been buzzing with messages since morning and in a digital world these are also the measure of the man Like some unique persons they grow to become massive trees that give shade and succour to so manyrdquo he said