Reflecting on his father's association with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Iqbal Chagla said that his father's opinion was that Jinnah was known to be a fine advocate but not good at law. "He was a cold hearted man." When M.C. Chagla joined Jinnah's chambers, he had no income or money to speak of. Despite knowing this, Jinnah never did anything to help. When a solicitor would come and ask him which junior he would like, Jinnah would reply saying there were so many juniors at the Bar and any one of them would do. The solicitor then approached Mr. Velinker in the next chamber, who promptly suggested that his junior be briefed. Iqbal Chagla also recounted the story of Sir F.E. Smith, the noted early 20th century British lawyer and his senior. When his senior, who was on a holiday in Europe, was contacted for a matter, he said that he would be unable to come back. When asked for suggestions about whom the brief should be given to, he suggested that they engage "FE". That was the start of Sir F.E. Smith's career. When this appeared in a newspaper, M.C. Chagla dutifully cut it out and left it on Jinnah's desk for him to read. Jinnah read it, scoffed, and threw it into the waste paper basket. "He never helped him at all", Iqbal Chagla said.