At the age of 25, Patel passed the pleader's test and began to wear a black lawyer's coat over his kameez and dhoti along with a red Patidar pagdi.

Moving to Godhra, he borrowed money from a friend and rented a house. At an auction he bought some furniture comprising a few chairs, a table, some bolsters and a few square yards of rough matting with which he began his career as a Pleader. Here he settled with Jhaverba, his wife who he had wed nine years earlier, to finally begin their married life together.

He accepted mostly criminal cases and his career ascent was rapid and remarkable. In the midst of this rise, a dark threat was lurking. The dreaded Plague.

Vallabhbhai himself contracted the disease after having nursed a friend who had become its victim. Sending his wife away to safety, Vallabhbhai is said to have taken himself to Nadiad where he stayed and recovered, some sources say, all by himself in a dilapidated temple.