Two Jobs, One Man

Single dad Rakesh Mohanlal is an inspiration: he practises law and medicine!

- Khatija Nxedlana

HE PACKS so much into an average day it’s enough to make your head spin. His first appointment is in court at 9 am, after which he heads to his doctor’s surgery for consultations in Pietermaritzburg.

Then it’s off to Durban for a few meetings before he tackles the 45­minute drive back to Maritzburg to see more patients. Evenings are spent working on his dissertation for his master’s in medical law and caring for his daughters.

“He has three professions: doctor, lawyer and juggler,” his friend Anand Pillay jokes. And he’s managing them all with enviable ease.

Rakesh Mohanlal (47) is thought to be the first person in South Africa to practise simultaneously as a medical doctor and an advocate. For most people, a career in either medicine or the law is daunting enough – to tackle both in one lifetime is just mind­boggling.

He became intrigued with law in 2012 while going through a divorce. He was an established doctor in private practice in the KwaZulu­Natal capital, but decided to see if he could take on law too.