1

ART AND SCIENCE OF ADVOCACY

INTRODUCTION

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The researcher tends to find out the important aspects required for
successful advocacy. The researcher also tends to look after the things which have spoilt the
name of this noble profession advocacy.

HYPOTHESIS: The researcher presumes that there is a lack of proper advocacy skills in most of
the advocates of the society.

LIMITATIONS: Time was a very big limitation while making the project. Main focus of this
project is on the level of advocacy in India. The level of advocacy skills in other countries has
not been mentioned much.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The researcher has followed doctrinal method of research.

SOURCES OF DATA: The researcher used both primary and secondary sources to collect data.

1. PRIMARY SOURCES: It includes the acts and laws passed by the Government of India
regarding advocacy. (Advocates Act, 1961 and the Bar Council of India Guidelines.

2. SECONDARY SOURCES: It includes the articles and books written on art and science
of advocacy. Apart from that the researcher has also consulted websites related to this
topic.

CHAPTERIZATION: The project has been divided into six chapters. The 1 st chapter
deals with the concept and history of advocacy. The 2 nd chapter talks about the different
forms of advocacy. The 3rd chapter deals with the problems that have crept in advocacy.
The 4th chapter talks about the skills of proper advocacy. The 5 th chapter deals with the
provisions in India for improving the standard of Bar. The 6 th chapter is conclusion and
suggestions.
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1. ADVOCACY: AN INTRODUCTION

Advocacy is a process of practicing law in courts. A lawyer or advocate is a person who practices
law. Working as a lawyer involves the practical application of abstract legal theories and
knowledge to solve specific individualized problems, or to advance the interests of those who
hire lawyers to perform legal services1.

The role of lawyers varies greatly across legal jurisdictions. The roles of lawyers in civil law
countries are different from those of the common law countries2.

In most countries, particularly civil law countries, there has been a tradition of giving many legal
tasks to a variety of civil law notaries, clerks, and scriveners 3. These countries do not have
"lawyers" in the American sense, in so far as that term refers to a single type of general-purpose
legal services provider4 ,rather, their legal professions consist of a large number of different kinds
of law-trained persons, known as jurists, some of whom are advocates who are licensed to
practice in the courts. It is difficult to formulate accurate generalizations that cover all the
countries with multiple legal professions, because each country has traditionally had its own
peculiar method of dividing up legal work among all its different types of legal professionals5.

Notably, England, the mother of the common law jurisdictions, emerged from the Dark Ages
with similar complexity in its legal professions, but then evolved by the 19th century to a single
dichotomy between barristers and solicitors. An equivalent dichotomy developed between
advocates and procurators in some civil law countries; these two types did not always
monopolize the practice of law, in that they coexisted with civil law notaries 6. Several countries
that originally had two or more legal professions have since fused or united their professions into
a single type of lawyer. Most countries in this category are common law countries, though
France, a civil law country, merged its jurists in 1990 and 1991 in response to Anglo-American
competition.

1 Henry Campbell Black , Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th ed.(St Paul: West Publishing Co., 1979) , 799
2 Geoffrey C Hazard, Jr. & Angelo Dondi, Legal Ethics: A Comparative Study (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
2004 ISBN 0-8047-4882-9), 20-23.
3 Richard L. Abel, “ Lawyers in the Civil Law World,” in Lawyers in Society: The Civil Law World, vol2,eds. Richard L.
Abel and Philip S.C. Lewis, 1-53( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988),4.
4 Walter O. Reyrauch, The Personality of Lawyers(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964),27.
5 Hazard, 21-33
6 Carlos Viladas Jene,” The Legal Profession in Spain: An understudied but Booming Occupation”
 3

In countries with fused professions, a lawyer is usually permitted to carry out the following
responsibilities listed below:

1. Oral argument in the courts: Arguing a client’s case before a judge or a jury in a court
of law is the most common task of the barrister in England, and of advocates in some
civil law jurisdictions. However, the boundary between barristers and solicitors has
evolved.
2. Research and drafting of court papers: Often, lawyers brief a court in writing on the
issues in a case before the issues can be orally argued. They may have to perform
extensive research into relevant facts and law while drafting legal papers and preparing
for oral arguments.

In England, the usual division of labor is that a solicitor will obtain the facts of a case
from a client and then brief a barrister (usually in writing) 7. The barrister then researches
and drafts the necessary court pleadings (which will be filed and served by solicitor) and
orally argues the case.

3. Legal advice: Legal advice is the application of abstract principles of law to the concrete
facts of the client’s case in order to advise the client about what they should do next. In
many countries, only a proper licensed lawyer may provide legal advice to clients for
good consideration, even if no lawsuit is contemplated or is in progress8.

4. Miscellaneous: Apart from the above mentioned works the other tasks which lawyers do
are Conveyance (Transfer of real property), carrying out the intent of the deceased, client
intake and counseling (with regard to pending litigation) etc…

HISTORY OF LAWYERS

Ancient Age

7 Fiona Boyle, Deveral Capps, Philip Plowden, Clare Sandford, A Practical guide to Lawyering skills, 3 rd ed. (London:
Cavendish Publishing,2005),47-50
8 Arthurs, 125: Johnsen,74; and Perez-Perdomo,”Venezuelan Legal Profession,”387.
 4

The earliest people who could be described as "lawyers" were probably the orators of ancient
Athens. However, Athenian orators faced serious structural obstacles. First, there was a rule that
individuals were supposed to plead their own cases, which was soon bypassed by the increasing
tendency of individuals to ask a "friend" for assistance9. However, around the middle of the
fourth century, the Athenians disposed of the perfunctory request for a friend. Second, a more
serious obstacle, which the Athenian orators never completely overcame, was the rule that no one
could take a fee to plead the cause of another. This law was widely disregarded in practice, but
was never abolished, which meant that orators could never present themselves as legal
professionals or experts. They had to uphold the legal fiction that they were merely an ordinary
citizen generously helping out a friend for free, and thus they could never organize into a real
profession—with professional associations and titles and all the other pomp and circumstance—
like their modern counterparts. Therefore, if one narrows the definition to those men who could
practice the legal profession openly and legally, then the first lawyers would have to be the
orators of ancient Rome.

A law enacted in 204 BC barred Roman advocates from taking fees, but the law was widely
ignored. The ban on fees was abolished by Emperor Claudius, who legalized advocacy as a
profession and allowed the Roman advocates to become the first lawyers who could practice
openly—but he also imposed a fee ceiling of 10,000 sesterces.10 This was apparently not much
money; the Satires of Juvenal complain that there was no money in working as an advocate. Like
their Greek contemporaries, early Roman advocates were trained in rhetoric, not law, and the
judges before whom they argued were also not law-trained. But very early on, unlike Athens,
Rome developed a class of specialists who were learned in the law, known as jurisconsults.
Jurisconsults were wealthy amateurs who dabbled in law as an intellectual hobby; they did not
make their primary living from it. They gave legal opinions on legal issues to all comers (a
practice known as publice respondere). Roman judges and governors would routinely consult
with an advisory panel of jurisconsults before rendering a decision, and advocates and ordinary
people also went to jurisconsults for legal opinions. Thus, the Romans were the first to have a
9 Robert J. Bonner, Lawyers and Litigants in Ancient Athens: The genesis of the legal profession (New York:
Benjamin Blom, 1927), 202.
10 A.H.M. Jones, ‘The Later Roman Empire, 284-602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative survey, vol.
1(University of Oklahoma press,1964), 507.
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class of people who spent their days thinking about legal problems, and this is why their law
became so "precise, detailed, and technical."

Middle Ages

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the onset of the Early Middle Ages, the legal
profession of Western Europe collapsed. As James Brundage has explained: "[by 1140], no one
in Western Europe could properly be described as a professional lawyer or a professional
canonist in anything likes the modern sense of the term 'professional 11’.However, from 1150
onward, a small but increasing number of men became experts in canon law but only in
furtherance of other occupational goals, such as serving the Roman Catholic Church as priests.
From 1190 to 1230, however, there was a crucial shift in which some men began to practice
canon law as a lifelong profession in itself. The legal profession's return was marked by the
renewed efforts of church and state to regulate it. In 1231 two French councils mandated that
lawyers had to swear an oath of admission before practicing before the bishop's courts in their
regions, and a similar oath was promulgated by the papal legate in London in 1237. During the
same decade, Frederick II, the emperor of the Kingdom of Sicily, imposed a similar oath in his
civil courts. By 1250 the nucleus of a new legal profession had clearly formed. The new trend
towards professionalization culminated in a controversial proposal at the Second Council of
Lyon in 1275 that all ecclesiastical courts should require an oath of admission. Although not
adopted by the council, it was highly influential in many such courts throughout Europe. The
civil courts in England also joined the trend towards professionalization; in 1275 a statute was
enacted that prescribed punishment for professional lawyers guilty of deceit 12, and in 1280 the
mayor's court of the city of London promulgated regulations concerning admission procedures,
including the administering of an oath. And in 1345, the French crown promulgated a royal
ordinance which set forth 24 rules governing advocates, of which 12 were integrated into the
oath to be taken by them. The French medieval oaths were widely influential and of enduring
importance; for example, they directly influenced the structure of the advocates' oath adopted by
the Canton of Geneva in 1816. In turn, the 1816 Geneva oath served as the inspiration for the
attorney's oath drafted by David Dudley Field as Section 511 of the proposed New York Code of

11 James A. Brundage,” The Rise Of The Professional Jurist in the thirteenth century”
12 Statute of Westminster 1275,ch.
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Civil Procedure of 1848, which was the first attempt in the United States at a comprehensive
statement of a lawyer's professional duties.

2. FORMS OF ADVOCACY

In the modern times the scope of law has widened. As a result a number of types of lawyers have
come up. Therefore the lawyers have been categorized under their field of expertise. Types of
lawyers which have come into existence today are as follows13:

1. Business Lawyer (also called Corporate Lawyer): Business law is quite broad, and
business lawyers will often deal with several areas of law discussed below, including
employment, intellectual property, and mergers and acquisitions. Sometimes these
lawyers just focus on basic business legal tasks such as forming your company, while
others are more encompassing and will work on all types of business needs from
employment issues to tax compliance. Also, some lawyers focus only on small businesses
and startups, while others focus on large enterprises. Keep in mind that there are business
transactional lawyers and business litigation lawyers as well. The difference between
these two types of business lawyers are significant, in that business transactional lawyers
handle transactions (such as negotiating deals) and drafting documents (such as
employment agreements), while business litigation lawyers handle your lawsuits (such as
when someone sues your company for violating the terms of a contract). Most of the
time, a business transactional lawyer will not do business litigation, and vice versa,
although there are exceptions.

2. Family Lawyer: You probably could have guessed what a family lawyer does. A family
lawyer handles anything having to do with direct family issues. Sometimes this includes
estate or family planning, but usually family lawyers handle things like divorce, custody
battles, prenuptial agreements, and other issues surrounding marriage and children. While
some only focus on divorce, most family lawyers cover all areas of family law.

13 www.lawyers.com
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3. Criminal Defense Lawyers: Criminal defense lawyers help defend people accused of
committing a crime against prosecution by the government, with the goal of reducing
their sentencing or helping them stay out of jail. The crimes handled by criminal defense
lawyers range from small offenses such as shoplifting to more serious crimes such as
DUI, drug trafficking, assault and battery, or even murder. Many lawyers who practice
criminal defense had previous experience working on the prosecution side at the Office of
the District Attorney (DA), either while in law school or after.

4. Civil Litigation Lawyer :A civil litigation lawyer is a very general term that
encompasses many other more specific areas of law, including real estate, employment,
business, and more. Civil litigation lawyers will typically handle any type of litigation, or
lawsuit, which is non-criminal. Therefore, anything from a landlord issue to a breach of
contract is handled by these lawyers.

5. Immigration Lawyer: These lawyers are very common in The United States Of
America. An immigration lawyer in USA will help with anything relating to bringing a
family member, employee, or individual into the United States from another country.
Most immigration lawyers’ practices rely heavily on businesses since they require
employment visas in order to bring employees to the United States from overseas. There
are a plethora of forms to file with each government entity involved and complex laws to
be followed in order to employ a non-citizen.

6. Digital media and Internet lawyers: These lawyers focus on all sorts of legal issues that
come into play with our use of technology and the Internet. Everything from the website
terms and conditions that govern our use of the Internet, to privacy issues, copyright laws
and issues with pirating of music and movies, and protection of children from online
predators falls within the area of digital media and Internet law. This area of law, like the
industry in which it operates, continues to evolve and change rapidly with new
technology.

3. COMMON PROBLEMS THAT EXISTS IN ADVOCATES

Law is the basic requirement for creating a civilized society. Without law society can’t be made.
Therefore legal profession has been considered as one of the noblest professions. However some
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problems have crept up in this profession. As a result this profession has lost a bit importance.
Some of the problems which have crept up in the legal profession are as follows:

1. LACK OF GOOD PROFESSIONAL SKILLS: Today most of the lawyers lack proper
professional skills. Although they have obtained a degree in law but they lack the art of
lawyering.

2. NEGLECT AND LACK OF COMMUNICATION: By far and away, year after year,
this is the most common complaint grievant make about their lawyers... or former
lawyers. Almost invariably, the reported decisions involving this form of misconduct are
multiple count matters which result in the lawyer’s suspension or disbarment. For
illustration, what follows is a partial list of recent disciplinary actions involving these
elements which resulted in public discipline.
In Matter of Fetters14: Respondent was hired to represent a client in a dispute with his
landlord. Respondent entered an appearance, and the issue of immediate possession was
resolved in the client’s favor. After Respondent and the client failed to appear at a hearing
regarding unpaid rent and damages, Respondent did not notify the client the court entered
a default judgment against him in the amount of $6,089. Respondent then failed to
respond to the client’s efforts to contact him. After the client learned of the default
judgment against him, Respondent assured the client he would appeal within the next
thirty days, but Respondent failed to appeal the judgment. Respondent then refused to
speak to the client when he called Respondent’s office. Respondent communicated to the
Commission that he had withdrawn from the case in court, but the case summary does not
support this assertion. For this conduct, the court suspended Respondent from the practice
of law in Indiana for a period of not less than six months, without automatic
reinstatement. The court pointed out that if reinstatement were sought, it would likely
only be considered after Respondent has made restitution to the client for any harm
caused by Respondent’s misconduct.

3. TRUST FUNDS: Misconduct involving the funds of clients and third parties is one of
the most serious acts of misconduct a lawyer can commit. As a result, the sanctions for
misconduct in these cases are equally serious.

14 988 N.E.2d 248 (Ind. 2013),

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4. Misconduct involving dishonesty is also one of the common problems which exist today.
Lawyers often misguide their clients. This is done to mint more money which they won’t
get otherwise. They even mislead the court to get decisions in their favor. Such behavior
lowers the prestige of the lawyers.
5. FEES OF LAWYERS: This is a very old problem of the Indian Judicial System. Poor
are often denied justice because they can’t hire a lawyer to fight their case in the court.
This happened because lawyers forgot their duty towards their society. They thought only
of money making. As a result many times justice was denied. High fees of lawyers not
only affected the poor but also the middle class. However after the evolution of PIL
many of such problems were sorted out.
6. STANDARD OF BAR: This is one of the problems which Indian Judicial System faces
even today. The quality of lawyers enrolled in the bar has gone down. This is most
commonly noticed in the Sessions Court of our country. These lawyers don’t have a great
amount of knowledge which they should have.

Due to the above problems advocacy has lost its importance. People have lost faith in
lawyers and the Indian Judicial System.

4. SKILLS OF A GOOD LAWYER

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Lawyers with proper professional skills are admired by all. Be it judge or the common man
everyone praises a lawyer who have proper professional skills. Following professional skills
every lawyer should have:

1. HONESTY: Honesty is the most important quality that an advocate should possess. His
thoughts, words and deeds should have sincere co-relation to each other with
genuineness. An advocate should be dependable and reliable to everyone who seeks his
advice and services. The uprightness, integrity and honesty of an advocate will increase
his reputation and respect in the society.
2. COURAGE: It is the duty of an advocate to fearlessly uphold the interests of his client
by all fair means without fear of any unpleasant consequences to himself or any other
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person. It is the knowledge and skill of the advocate that gives him the necessary courage
and confidence to present the case fearlessly and to uphold the interest of the client. The
knowledge and the skill can be acquired and developed by mastery of facts, mastery of
laws, and mastery in drafting and presentation of convincing arguments.
3. WIT: Judges and lawyers have to deal with a variety of serious and important matters
affecting life and liberty of the people. So constant clashes between them is common.
Anxiety for a favorable verdict on the part of the lawyers; and perpetual worry for the
pursuit of truth on the part of the judges generate strain and tension. Occasional wit and
humor, provoking a smile or laughter will help them to ease the tension, and refresh
themselves to sharpen their brain for the effective discharges of their duties.
4. ELOQUENCE: Eloquence means the fluency, force and style of using the language.
Strong vocabulary is one of the powerful weapons, which an advocate should possess.
Words are his keys of thought. Strong vocabulary gives him assurance, builds his self-
confidence and increases his personality. Words must be employed with eloquence. The
art of persuasive and impressive speaking will give the desired result in his favor.
5. JUDGEMENT: It means the ability to come to a sensible conclusion and make wise
decisions at the relevant time in the proper way. It is on the basis of these conclusions he
should employ the necessary facts and
techniques in the case in which he is engaged. This quality is necessary from the
beginning of filling the case till its final disposal. An advocate must always anticipate all
the possible moves of the other side and must develop the necessary presence of mind,
alertness and tact to cope with any awkward situation of difficulty that may arise in the
case.

ETHICS OF PROPER ADVOCACY

The word ‘ethics’ means rules of conduct pertaining to a particular class of human action. When
we, therefore, talk of ethics of the legal profession, we only refer to the action of members of the
Bar in the discharge of their duties and obligations and in the exercise of their rights and
privileges. K.V. Krishnaswamy Iyer, a prominent advocate of the then High Court, in the
composite State of Madras, said with reference to the members of the Bar;
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“In your dealings in and outside Court, you should always bear in mind that every member of
the Bar is a trustee for the honor and prestige of the profession as a whole.”

This is the quintessence of legal ethics and though several years have gone by, even today a
Member of the Bar continues to be so, vis-à-vis, the profession of law. This is a message, which
Lawyers need to keep in mind always. The issues and challenges pertaining to the ethics of
advocates is a vast subject. An advocate has duty towards his clients, court, opposing counsel,
public and even towards themselves.

1. DUTY TOWARDS CLIENT:

An advocate owes a duty to his client in several ways which are as follows:
· He must give a patient hearing to the client.
· He must examine all his papers.
· He must after discussing the case with his client, advice him correctly, even if it be that
the advice is not palatable to the client.
· He should account for the clients’ money strictly and return the unspent amount to him.
· He must represent his client in court with undivided fidelity and not divulge his secrets
or confidences.
· He should not appear for two clients whose interest’s conflict.
· He should not in any way encourage an illegal transaction.
· When a settlement of pending suit or appeal is proposed, he should give his honest
opinion according to the best of his ability and leave it to the client to follow it or not. An
advocate should be vigilant to discover chances of compromising controversies. But he
should not pressurize the client in that behalf. But where the client stands a great risk, in
spite of advice, still desires to fight the case to finish, according to me, it is the duty of the
advocate to fight it for him and to use every legitimate argument to bring about success.
The relationship between an advocate and a client was even discussed in the case State of
U.P. v U.P. State Law Officers Association15.

2. DUTY TOWARDS COURT:

a. Advocate is an officer of justice and friend of the court.
The cardinal principle which determines the privileges and responsibilities of an
advocate in relation to the court is that he is an officer to justice and a friend of the
court. This is the primary position. A conduct therefore, which is unworthy of him as
an officer of justice, cannot be justified by stating that he did it as the agent of his

15 AIR 1994 SC 1654:1994(2) SCC204

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client. His status as an officer of justice does not mean he is subordinate to the judge.
It only means that he is an integral part of the machinery for the
Administration of justice.
b. Cooperation between bench and the bar is necessity.
The first duty which advocates and judges owe to each other is of co-operation. Co-
operation between the Bench and the Bar is not a mere conventional statement. It is a
fundamental necessity. Without it, there can be no orderly administration of justice.
Sir Cecil Walsh in his book called The Advocate 16says that:
“Nothing is more calculated to promote the smooth and satisfactorily administration
of justice than complete confidence and sympathy between Bench and the Bar”.

DUTY OF ADVOCATE TOWARDS COURT:

An advocate has following responsibilities toward court:

1. The advocate must not do anything which lowers public confidence in the administration
of justice.
2. It is the duty of the Bar to support judges in their independence because in the integrity
of judges lies the greatest safeguard of a nation’s laws and liberties. Judicial
independence is the only protection against tyranny and whims of the executive.
3. The advocate must not do anything which is calculated to obstruct, divert or corrupt the
stream of justice, for instance, he must not advise disobedience to the courts order and
decrees.
4. Another duty which the advocate owes to the court is that of fidelity, he must be honest in
his representation of the case. He must not deceive the court.
5. The counsel is under an obligation to present everything to the judge openly and in the
court and nothing privately. He must not attempt any private influence upon the judge;
seek opportunities for the purpose; or take opportunities of social gatherings to make ex
parte statements or to endeavor to impress his views upon him.
6. The advocate must not place himself in a position which he cannot effectively discharge
his obligations to the Court as minister of justice. He should not have any personal

16 The advocate, his aims and aspirations, Walsh, Cecil Henry, Sir, b. 1869, Allahabad : Printed at the Pioneer
Press, 1916
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interest in the litigation he is conducting. It will be misconduct on his part to stipulate

with his client to share in the results of litigation.
7. He should always remember that precedents are more efficacious than arguments.

3. ADVOCATES DUTY TOWARDS THE OPPOSING COUNSEL:

An advocate shall not in any way communicate or negotiate upon the subject matter of
controversy with any party represented by an advocate except through that advocate 17.
The legal system in its broadest sense functions best when persons in need of legal advice
or assistance are represented by their own counsel. For this reason a lawyer should not
communicate on the subject matter of the representation of the client with a person the
lawyer knows to be represented in the matter by lawyer, unless pursuant to law or rule of
court or unless the lawyer has the consent of the lawyer for that person. If one is not
represented by counsel, a lawyer representing another may have to deal directly with the
unrepresented person; in such an instance, a lawyer should not undertake to give advice
to the person who is not represented by a lawyer, except to advice the person to obtain a
lawyer18.

Similarly it is a duty of an advocate to be fair to an opposing advocate. You should treat

the opposing advocate as a gentleman and should never suspect him. He is engaged as
much as you are in the search for truth as an officer of the court. Relevant facts should
not be concealed or withheld from him nor should he misled by such concealment or
withholding. During the arguments interruptions should be avoided as far as possible. As
you do not like to be interrupted, equally you should not interrupt your counterpart. You
should not denigrate the performance of your counterpart in the presence of his client. All
controversies should be avoided and good relations between the counsels should not be
affected outside the court. A lawyer should not forget that he is not only fighting the
battle of his client but that he is also assisting the court in the administration of justice.
4. ADVOCATES DUTY TOWARDS PUBLIC: Give a measure of your best legal service
to such public affairs as may best serve your community. We should always remember to
protect the defenseless and the oppressed.

17 Rule 34 of BCI rules

18 CANON 7.18 Of New York Bar Association
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5. PROVISIONS IN INDIA FOR IMPROVING THE STANDARD OF BAR

To raise the standard of Bar in the country Advocates Act was passed by the parliament in 1961.
This was an act passed to amend and consolidate the law relating to the legal practitioners and to
provide for the constitution of the Bar Councils and an All- India Bar.

Bar Council of India19 was set up with an aim to check the conduct of the advocates enrolled. For
this certain rules and regulations have been set by the Bar Council of India for the lawyers
practicing. This includes how to behave in court, how to fight a case in court etc… There were
many committees set up to check whether everything is going properly or not. For example:
Disciplinary Committee20.The Bar Council of India has also given a list of rules regarding the
duty of the lawyers which every lawyer need to follow. If they don’t do so then they will be
punished.

This made the lawyers more conscious of their duties towards everyone. This helped
them in improving their own individual standard also. Apart from that there was also a
change done in the legal education system. A 5 year integrated law course was
introduced. This was done to improve the knowledge level of the lawyers.

These steps of the Indian Government helped in improving the standard of bar and in
improving the advocacy skills of the lawyers in India.

6. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

An advocate's duty is as important as that of a Judge. Advocates have a large responsibility

towards the society. A client's relationship with his/her advocate is underlined by utmost trust. An
advocate is expected to act with utmost sincerity and respect. In all professional functions, an
advocate should be diligent and his conduct should also be diligent and should conform to the
requirements of the law by which an advocate plays a vital role in the preservation of society and

19 www.barcouncilofindia.org
20 Advocates Act 1961
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justice system. An advocate is under an obligation to uphold the rule of law and ensure that the
public justice system is enabled to function at its full potential. Any violation of the principles of
professional ethics by an advocate is as unfortunate, as is unacceptable. Ignoring even a minor
violation/misconduct militates against the fundamental foundation of the public justice system.
An advocate should be dignified in his dealings to the Court, to his fellow lawyers and to the
litigants. He should have integrity in abundance and should never do anything that erodes his
credibility. He has a duty to enlighten and encourage the juniors in the profession. An ideal
advocate should believe that the legal profession has an element of service also and associate
with legal service activities. Most importantly, he should faithfully abide by the standards of
professional conduct and etiquette prescribed by the Bar Council of India in Chapter II, Part VI
of the Bar Council of India Rules21.

If the advocates follow all these things then we can make society a better place to live in. It is
because lawyers are not only practitioner of law but are also social engineers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The researcher consulted the following sources to complete this project.

1. BOOKS: The researcher consulted following books while making this project:
a. Beyond the Cause: The Art and Science of Advocacy- Published by Independent
Sector, Washington D.C., 2012 Edition
b. Legal Methods- Dr. G.P. Tripathi, Central Law Publications, 2014 Edition
c. Advocacy-Championing Ideas and Influencing Others- John A. Daly
d. Advocacy Preparation and Performance- Selby Hugh, The Federation Press, New
York, The Federation Press, 2009 Edition

2. ARTICLES:
a. Legal Profession: Challenges and Prospects and The Art Of Advocacy- Honorable
Justice F.M. Ibrahim Karifulla (Judge of Supreme Court Of India)

3. WEBSITES:
a. www.barcouncilofindia.org
b. www.lawyers.com

21 www.barcouncilofindia.org
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c. www.freedictionary.com
d. www.nysba.org

4. ACTS AND STATUTES: 1. Advocates Act ,1961