Mithan Jamshed Lam

Mithan Jamshed Lam (1898–1981) was an Indian lawyer, social activist and the Sheriff of Bombay. She was the first Indian woman barrister and the first Indian woman lawyer at the Bombay High Court. She was a member of the All India Women's Conference and served as its president in 1961–62. The Government of India awarded her the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1962, for her contributions to society.

Biography Mithan Jamshed Lam, née Mithan Ardeshir Tata, was born on 2 March 1898 in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, in a Parsi Zoroastrian family, to Ardeshir Tata, a textile mill employee and Herabai Tata, a women's rights activist. Her childhood and early education were at Phulgaon, in Pune district, where her father was working at a local textile mill, but later, she moved to Ahmedabad when her father shifted his job to that place. becoming one of the first woman barristers and the first Indian woman barrister. Her stay in England also gave her opportunities to get associated with notable Indian woman leaders such as Sarojini Naidu and Annie Besant, who were also there in the country to advocate for woman suffrage in India. She visited Scotland, along with these leaders, and also addressed the House of Commons. The efforts were reported to have assisted in getting the suffrage to Indian women. After three years of practice, she was appointed as a Justice of the Peace and executive magistrate as well as a member of the committee on Parsi Marriage Act of 1865, which helped her to contribute to the amendment of the act that came to be known as the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act of 1936. In 1947, she was appointed as the Sheriff of Bombay, first woman to hold the post. and served as its president for the term 1961–62.

Lam served as visiting faculty at the Bombay Law College Her biography is also featured in an encyclopedic book, Encyclopaedia of Women Biography.

The Lam family has notable people in India such as Dr. Sorab Lam, Framroze Lam, Dinshaw Lam, Jamshyd D. F. Lam, Phiroze Lam, Frederick Faredoon Lam, Xenia Lam, Jiaan Lam.