 His father was thrilled he chose his family's traditional profession and made immediate arrangements for him to be admitted into the Inner Temple.Shankar was called to the Bar of the Inner Temple in 1955 and to the Malayan Bar in July 1956.He then enrolled as an Advocate and Solicitor in Malaya whilst in Shearn Delamore and Company, Kuala Lumpur, where he became a partner in 1961.