Lawyers of the Freedom Movement

A Movement Led by Lawyers

Why so many freedom fighters were barristers

A remarkable number of the leaders of India's freedom movement were lawyers, many trained at the Inns of Court in London: Gandhi and Nehru (Inner Temple), Patel (Middle Temple), Jinnah (Lincoln's Inn) and Ambedkar (Gray's Inn). Legal training gave them a language of rights, a platform in the courts and financial independence, and many gave up lucrative practices to join the struggle.

• Gandhi, Nehru: Inner Temple.
• Patel: Middle Temple.
• Jinnah: Lincoln's Inn.
• Ambedkar: Gray's Inn.

1891–1914

Mahatma Gandhi, Barrister

From a failed first case to South Africa

Gandhi was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1891. At his first case in a Bombay small causes court he was too nervous to cross-examine and returned the fee. In 1893 he went to South Africa for the firm of Dada Abdulla, where he persuaded the parties to settle, concluding that "the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties riven asunder". He practised in Natal and the Transvaal for two decades. The Inner Temple removed him after his 1922 conviction and posthumously restored him in 1988.

• Called to the Bar by the Inner Temple, 1891.
• Went to South Africa in 1893 for Dada Abdulla.
• Readmitted posthumously by the Inner Temple (1988).

1876–1948

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Barrister

The Bombay Bar's star

Jinnah was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1896 and became one of the most successful barristers in Bombay. He defended Tilak in 1916, and in the Central Legislative Assembly in 1929 he made a celebrated speech defending the hunger strike of Bhagat Singh's comrades and criticising the attempt to try them in their absence.

• Lincoln's Inn, 1896.
• Defended Tilak (1916).

1875–1950

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Barrister

A criminal lawyer in Ahmedabad

Patel practised as a pleader in Godhra, Borsad and Anand, saved money to study in London, and was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1913, finishing a 36-month course in 30 months and topping his examination. He became a leading criminal lawyer in Ahmedabad before joining Gandhi in the Kheda Satyagraha (1918).

• Middle Temple, 1913.
• Joined the Kheda Satyagraha in 1918.

1889–1964

Jawaharlal Nehru, Barrister

A reluctant lawyer

Nehru was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1912 and joined his father's practice at the Allahabad High Court, but found the law uninspiring and left it for politics. He famously put on a barrister's gown again in 1945 to join the defence of the INA officers at the Red Fort trials.

• Inner Temple, 1912.
• Rejoined the Bar for the INA trials (1945).