Rafique Ahmed Dada did his schooling from the St. Xavier’s High School, Bombay then joined the Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics. He graduated in Commerce with advanced accountancy and auditing. In view of his merit, he was awarded a scholarship to go to the London School of Economics. However, he decided to stay back and study law. Mr. Dada’s decision to study law was received with great anxiety and skepticism as law was not regarded as a popular profession instead the rush was for engineering and medicine. The choice before Mr. Dada included Chartered Accountancy as also a career in Economics after graduation from the London School.

Mr. Dada joined a Government Law College in Bombay and engrossed himself in the study of law. His career in the field of law was spectacular. In the very first year of LLB, Mr. Dada won many awards for elocution and debating.

Mr. Dada graduated in LLB and was awarded a gold medal for acquiring first position. The prizes included the Arunaditya Vishnu Dhurandar Gold Medal and the Sir Jamshedji Kanga. He was also awarded the Rotary Club of Bombay prize for the best student of the year.

Mr. Dada enrolled for the LLM degree in Constitutional and International Law and began his practice at Mumbai. The story of his early struggle at the Bar has been narrated in a series known as “Journeys Struggles at the Bar”, a speech made to the Bombay Bar Association and most seen and heard in the YouTube.

Since there was no godfather and no influence in the legal profession, Mr. Dada had a letter from Mr. T.K. Tope, the Principal of the Government Law College. This letter was addressed to Mr. E.G. Vahanvati (father of the late Mr. Gulam Vahanvati, former Attorney General of India).

Awarded a Fellowship at the Government Law College, Mr. Dada soon began to teach as a part-time Professor of Law. The Principal of the College informed him that the only vacancy available was to teach the Income Tax and Sales Tax Act. This was a big challenge as it was not a subject which was taught in the LLB when Mr. Dada was graduated. This was an act of fate and divine grace as the students of the Government Law College who joined the Bar and had some influence were the earliest benefactors of Mr. Dada.

Rafique Dada was appointed to the post of Additional solicitor General of the western region. Appeared in series of cases in Constitutional and Civil Laws, he was the President of the Bombay for six years from 2002 to 2008.Led delegations to UK at the invitation of the Bar council of England and Wales and to California USA, he was awarded a life time achievement by Legal Era.Also awarded on the National Law Day in 2008 for his contribution to civil law by the then prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh. Also received an award by the Bar Association of India in 2019 in a function to felicitate leading lawyers.