Prior to setting up in private practice Milorad had worked
as an Associate to a Commercial Court Judge in Belgrade. He had graduated
in law from Belgrade University in 1936 and had previously trained as a Cavalry
officer (1931-32) and studied history for two years at Université de
Clermont in France (1929-1931).
At the beginning of World War II he served as a Cavalry officer
in the Royal Yugoslav Army defending the northern borders of Serbia. He was
captured but managed to escape and return to Belgrade. The original law firm
disbanded during the war as Belgrade was under occupation but Milorad continued
an informal practice offering pro-bono advice.
In 1945 Yugoslavia was subjected to communist rule. This
caused Milorad some difficulties because of his support for democracy and
his family background. His father, Djurdje S. Ninkovic, had built hotel Astoria
in the centre of Belgrade in 1938 and had been a prominent hotelier and businessman
as well as an honorary judge of the Commercial Court. Djurdje S. Ninkovic
had been awarded the Order of the Yugoslav Crown for services to the judiciary
in 1939.
For a period of time Milorad had his license to practise
law revoked for not being a “supporter of the new (communist) regime”.
He was accused of various alleged transgressions of newly imposed communist
regulations in an ad hoc peoples’ court. For many years he could not
obtain a passport to travel outside Yugoslavia. In 1948 his entire family’s
property was nationalised by the communist government as it introduced a centralised
command economy.
In spite of the difficult circumstances Milorad carried on
working as an employed lawyer for a well-known Belgrade advocate, Mr Ignjatovic,
until his license to practise law was reinstated in 1952. He then set up his
own practice with an associate, Dr. Milojevic, an eminent lawyer who had also
been subjected to communist persecution. They opened an office in southern
Serbia and in Belgrade in a small apartment in hotel Astoria, focusing on
commercial law, civil litigation and criminal litigation. Ninkovic Law Office
remained based in hotel Astoria for more than 50 years. Milorad retired from
practice in 1979 having worked in law for 42 years.
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