CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION

ASSIGNMENT
ON
ROLE OF LAWYERS IN ESTABLISHING AND FUNCTIONING
OF CLINICS

CONTENTS
INTRODUTION
WHAT IS CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION
DEVELOPMENT OF CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION
MEANING OF LAW
THE FUNCTIONS OF LAW
WHO IS LAWYER?
BASIC PRINCIPLES ON THE ROLE OF LAWYERS
ROLE OF LAWYERS IN FUNCTIONING OF CLINICS
ROLE OF ADVOCATES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGAL AID SCHEMES
PROVISIONS IN ADVOCATES ACT 1961
CJI INAUGURATES 2,648 VILLAGE LEGAL AID CLINICS
FREE LEGAL AID CLINIC
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION
Justice must become central to the law curriculum, and community-based learning should give
the desired value-orientation in the making of a lawyer. Professional education will have to be
imbibed with a spirit of social service. There is no better way of inculcating it except through
exposing law students to real-life experiences crying out for justice1
Chief Justice of the Madras High Court A.P. Shah said while inaugurating a three-day Southern
region cascade programme on law teaching and legal research skills.2 Besides enabling students
to acquire qualities and skills for successful practice, the curriculum should have a multidisciplinary approach. Students should be made to realize that decisions on legal problems had
widespread social, economic and political consequences.
The legal clinic concept was first discussed at the turn of the twentieth century by two professors
as a variant of the medical clinic model. Russian professor Alexander I. Lyublinsky in 1901,
quoting an article in a German journal, and American professor William Rowe, in a 1917 article,
each wrote about the concept of a legal clinic. Both professors associated it with the medical
professions tradition of requiring medical students to train in functioning clinics ministering to
real patients under the supervision of experienced physicians. This call for a clinical component
to legal education was not an attempt to replicate the apprenticeship system that already existed
in many countries, in which students worked outside the law school under the supervision of an
1 The Hindu, 11Dec. Tuesday, 2007
2 Jointly organised by the Tamil Nadu Dr.Ambedkar Law University, the British
Council and Cardiff Law School, U.K.
3

experienced practitioner. Instead, it was a call for a new type of education that would offer
students the opportunity to experience the realities of legal practice and the context in which
laws develop, within the structured laboratory of legal education.
In 19973 the Bar Council of India made mandatory a list of 21 courses, which the law schools
must teach together with four other compulsory practical training courses at the LL.B. level. ,
Namely. Jurisprudence. Contract-I, Contract-II, Tort and Consumer Protection Law, Family
Law-I, Family Law-Il, Law of Crimes, Criminal Procedure Code Juvenile Justice Act and
Probation of Offenders Act, Constitutional Law, Property Law. Law, of Evidence, Civil
Procedure Code and Limitations Act, Legal Language and Legal Writing, Administrative Law,
Company Law, Human Rights and International Law, Arbitration Counselling and Alternate
Dispute Resolution Systems. Environmental Law, Labour Law, Interpretation of Statutes and
Land Laws.
Clinical legal education is in the midst of an exciting period of growth and development,
prompting clinicians around the world to reflect on what clinical educations remarkable
successes over the past forty years mean for its future. One important item on this agenda that
has been on the minds of law teachers in India and the United States, among other countries, is
the status of clinical legal educations traditional social justice mission. There has been a link
between social justice and clinical legal education in India and the United States since the late
1960s and early 1970s, when modern clinical legal education was first coming into its own and
law schools in both countries introduced the new clinical teaching methodology through the
establishment of legal aid clinics. Clinical education has always had a broader goal to teach
law students about what lawyers do and to understand lawyers professional role in the legal
system but it carried out that goal in its early years almost exclusively in the context of having
students provide various forms of legal aid services. Over time, the legal aid dimension of
clinical education has been replaced to some extent by a more professional skills-oriented focus
as the clinical movement has made important and necessary gains in the legal academy,
especially in the United States. Although social justice remains at the heart of many clinical
programs, the effort to obtain broad acceptance of clinical legal education by the legal academy
3 LE (Cir. No, 4/1997),
4

and the bar realized already to a substantial degree in a number of countries around the world
seems often to undercut its traditional social justice mission.
Clinical Legal Education is essentially a multi-disciplined, multipurpose education which can
develop the human resources and idealism needed to strengthen the legal system a lawyer, a
product of such education would be able to contribute to national development and social change
in a much more constructive manner.4

WHAT IS CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION

Definitions:
The Clinical Legal Education can be defined in various ways
Clinical Legal Education is essentially a multi-disciplined, multipurpose education which can
develop the human resources and idealism needed to strengthen the legal system a lawyer, a
product of such education would be able to contribute to national development and social change
in a much more constructive manner.5
A learning environment where students identify, research and apply knowledge in a setting
which replicates, at least in part, the world where it is practiced. It almost inevitably means that
the student takes on some aspect of a case and conducts this as it would be conducted in the real
world.6

4 KuljitKaur,Legal Education and Social Transformation

5 KuljitKaur,Legal Education and Social Transformation
6 Richard Lewis, Clinical Legal Education Revisited Professor of Law, Cardiff University,
Wales, UnitedKingdom, Pg. 5 , [available at:
http://www.law.cf.ac.uk/research/pubs/repository/21] [viewed on: 25/06/2009].

Prof. Sathe asked the pertinent question, "Is legal education all about imparting skills of
lawyering or does it also have to create a commitment to certain values?"7
He opined:
A lawyer is not only a seller of services but he is a professional who renders services for
maintaining the rule of law. He is supposed to be an officer of the court. He has to have
commitment to certain values such as democracy, individual liberty, social and economic
equality including gender equality and concern for the disadvantaged sections of society which
will include the poor, women, the physically handicapped, children, the minorities and the
Dalits. Legal education has to create such a commitment.
The Clinical Legal Education is a term which encompasses learning which is focused on
enabling students to understand how the law works in action. This can be done by undertaking
real or realistic simulated case work. In early days law is thought as one of the curriculum
available to the students. Even though the casebook method was growing in earlier days, there
were critics of this method from the beginning. However the first-hand experience method will
really educate the law students. The legal education clinics if properly channeled may help the
students to gain their knowledge. The use of the word clinic prompts the analogy of trainee
doctors meeting real patients in their medical clinics.
Clinical Legal Education is only one way in which theory and practice can be brought together.
Now every nation is giving importance on the clinical legal education in order to groom their
future lawyers, the law makers, the executors, law officers, judges and law teachers to acquire
knowledge through a scientific method keeping pace with the ethics and philosophy of the
society. The objective of the clinical education is radical, reformative and dynamic.
The following are the basic features of the clinical legal education7 S.P. Sathe- Keynote Address in roundtable discussion on community responsive legal
education: trends inSouth Asia, November 27-28, 2001, organised by the United States
Educational Foundation in India in
collaboration with Pune Law College.

 The students are to experience the impact of law on the life of the people.
The students are to be exposed to the actual milieu in which dispute arise and to enable them to
develop a sense of social responsibility in professional work.
The students are to be acquainted with the lawyering process in general and the skills of
advocacy in particular.
The students are to critically consume knowledge from outside the traditional legal arena for
better delivery of legal services.
The students are to develop research aptitude, analytical pursuits and communicating skills.
They are to understand the limit and limitations of the formal legal system and to appreciate the
relevance and the use of alternate modes of lawyering.
They are to imbibe social and humanistic values in relation to law and legal process while
following the norms of professional ethics
A legal clinic (also law clinic or law school clinic) is a law school program providing handsonlegal experience to law school students and services to various clients. Clinics are usually
directed by clinical professors. Legal clinics typically do probono work in a particular area,
providing free legal services to clients.
Students typically provide assistance with research, drafting legal arguments, and meeting with
clients. In many cases, one of the clinic's professors will show up for oral argument before the
Court. However, many jurisdictions have "student practice" rules that allow lawclinic students to
appear and argue in court.
Clinical legal education may be simply described as learning through application, practice and
reflection. It is quite different from the traditional legal education. The lecture- seminar method
so common in the education of the law students does not meet the clinical demands, however
they are vital as they render vital information being predominantly content and assessment led.
Clinical legal education is directed towards developing the perceptions, attitudes, skills and sense
of responsibilities which the lawyers are expected to assume when they complete their
7

professional education. It can, therefore, be as broad and varied as the law school curriculum
would accommodate; certainly it is not limited to the mere training in certain skills of advocacy.
Clinical legal education has wider goals of enabling law students to understand and assimilate
responsibilities as a member of a public service in the administration of law, in the reform of the
law, in the equitable distribution of the legal services in society, in the protection of individual
rights and public.

DEVELOPMENT OF CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION IN INDIA

Clinical Legal Education took off in the 1960s as a response to the social and political
movements of the time and the perceived irrelevance of traditional legal education. It featured
service to poor clients and lay advocates interested in attacking poverty and racism. It
represented first and foremost a commitment to social justice and the law. But learning legal
skills has also been an important dimension of clinics, defined clinical education as a lawyer
client experience under law school supervision for credit. Clinical legal education is in the
midst of an exciting period of growth and development, prompting clinicians around the world to
reflect on what clinical educations remarkable successes over the past forty years mean for its
future. One important item on this agenda that has been on the minds of law teachers in India and
the United States, among other countries, is the status of clinical legal educations traditional
social justice mission. There has been a link between social justice and clinical legal education in
India and the United States since the late 1960s and early 1970s, when modern clinical legal
education was first coming into its own and law schools in both countries introduced the new
clinical teaching methodology through the establishment of legal aid clinics. Clinical education
8

has always had a broader goal to teach law students about what lawyers do and to understand
lawyers professional role in the legal system but it carried out that goal in its early years
almost exclusively in the context of having students provide various forms of legal aid services.
Over time, the legal aid dimension of clinical education has been replaced to some extent by a
more professional skills-oriented focus as the clinical movement has made important and
necessary gains in the legal academy, especially in the United States. Although social justice
remains at the heart of many clinical programs, the effort to obtain broad acceptance of clinical
legal education by the legal academy and the bar realized already to a substantial degree in a
number of countries around the world seems often to undercut its traditional social justice
mission.
Clinical Legal Education includes not only the clinical courses but also practice-oriented courses
and activities included in or offered outside the curriculum. Clinical Legal Education is more
than a vehicle for the study of lawyering and the legal profession. Clinical Legal Education
should be devised and implemented; this will give law students a deeper and more meaningful
understanding of law.
The subject-matter or content of Clinical Legal Education and the Clinical method of law
teaching can be separated; the subjects sought to be taught in a clinical course or program can be
presented in traditional classes, and the clinical teaching method can be utilized in courses
outside the usual clinical subject areas.
In order to achieve the objects of the clinical programme, NLSIU offers a wide range of
opportunities in clinical programmes, compulsory as well as optional, to the students. At present
the compulsory clinical courses are(a) Client Interviewing, counseling, And Alternate Dispute
Resolution methods; (b) Litigation Clinic; (c) special Clinic integrated with compulsory
placements of two months from III year to V year of the 5 year LL.B. course. The optional
component of the scheme includes: a) Moot Court (b) Legal services Clinics; (c) communitybased Law Reforms Competition. In addition to the above, NLSIU curriculum carries a full
course of 100 marks taught outside the declared clinical courses. This is a compulsory course on
Professional Ethics and Law Office management taught with assistance of legal practitioners.

MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF LAW

Law is, generally, a system of rules which are enforced through social institutions to govern
behaviour. Laws can be made by legislatures through legislation (resulting in statutes), the
executive through decrees and regulations, or judges through binding precedents (normally in
common law jurisdictions). Private individuals can create legally binding contracts, including (in
some jurisdictions) arbitration agreements that may elect to accept alternative arbitration to the
normal court process. The formation of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution
(written or unwritten) and the rights encoded therein. The law shapes politics, economics, and
society in various ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people.
A general distinction can be made between (a) civil law jurisdictions (including canon and
socialist law), in which the legislature or other central body codifies and consolidates their laws,
and (b) common law systems, where judge-made binding precedents are accepted. Historically,
religious laws played a significant role even in settling of secular matters, which is still the case
in some religious communities, particularly Jewish, and some countries, particularly Islamic.
Islamic Sharia law is the world's most widely used religious law. The adjudication of the law is
generally divided into two main areas referred to as (i) Criminal law and (ii) Civil law. Criminal
10

law deals with conduct that is considered harmful to social order and in which the guilty party
may be imprisoned or fined. Civil law (not to be confused with civil law jurisdictions above)
deals with the resolution of lawsuits (disputes) between individuals or organisations. These
resolutions seek to provide a legal remedy (often monetary damages) to the winning litigant.
Under civil law, the following specialties, among others, exist: Contract law regulates everything
from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets. Property law regulates the transfer
and title of personal property and real property. Trust law applies to assets held for investment
and financial security. Tort law allows claims for compensation if a person's property is harmed.
Constitutional law provides a framework for the creation of law, the protection of human rights
and the election of political representatives. Administrative law is used to review the decisions of
government agencies. International law governs affairs between sovereign states in activities
ranging from trade to military action. To implement and enforce the law and provide services to
the public by public servants, a government's bureaucracy, military, and police are vital. While
all these organs of the state are creatures created and bound by law, an independent legal
profession and a vibrant civil society inform and support their progress[citation needed].Law
provides a rich source of scholarly inquiry into legal history, philosophy, economic analysis and
sociology. Law also raises important and complex issues concerning equality, fairness, and
justice. There is an old saying that 'all are equal before the law. The author Anatole France
said in 1894, "In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under
bridges, beg in the streets, and steal loaves of bread." Writing in 350 BC, the Greek
philosopher Aristotle declared, "The rule of law is better than the rule of any individual."
Mikhail Bakunin said: "All law has for its object to confirm and exalt into a system the
exploitation of the workers by a ruling class". Cicero said "more law, less justice Marxist
doctrine asserts that law will not be required once the state has withered away.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LAW

Law Student deals with the question of why anyone would want to study Law, and in the course
of so doing defends the importance of law, and by extension the work that lawyers do. The object

11

of this section is to provide a gateway through which you can explore on the Internet in greater
detail exactly why law is such an importance force in our civilisation.

THE FUNCTIONS OF LAW

Law can be said to perform four different functions, each of which is of huge importance to our
welfare.
(1) Defending us from evil
The first and most basic function of law is to defend us from evil that is, those who would seek
to harm us for no good reason. This function of law underlies 20th century developments in
International Law such as the Nuremberg Trials and the creation of the International Criminal
Court.
(2) Promoting the common good
Law is not just concerned with bringing evil people to account for their actions. A community
made up of people who bear no ill-will to anyone else and are simply concerned to pursue their
own self-interest needs law because there are situations where if everyone pursues their own selfinterest, everyone will be worse off than they would have been if they acted differently. (This is
the reverse of the invisible hand phenomenon where if everyone pursues their own self-interest,
everyone in the community is made better off, as if everyones actions were guided by an
invisible hand to achieve that end.) So a community of self-interested actors needs law: (i) to
solve Prisoners dilemma situations; (ii) to distribute into private hands property that would
otherwise be exploited by everyone, thereby avoiding a tragedy of the commons situation
arising; (iii) to prevent people acting on their natural desire to extract an eye for an eye in
revenge for actual or perceived wrongs that they have suffered at other peoples hands.
(3) Resolving disputes over limited resources

12

As every family knows, in any community there will always be disputes over who should have
what of a limited number of resources. Law is needed to resolve these disputes, as exemplified
by the famous story of the Judgment of Solomon.
(4) Encouraging people to do the right thing
It was thought even from classical times that law performed a fourth function that of
encouraging and helping people to do the right thing. For example, Aristotle (384 BC 322 BC)
argued that people needed the discipline of law to habituate them into doing the right thing, from
which standpoint they could then appreciate why doing the right thing was the right thing to do.
Up until the 20th century, this view of law was accepted by law makers, with the result that the
UK legal system contained a large number of morals laws that is, laws that were designed
purely and simply to stop people acting immorally, according to the lights of Christian teaching
on what counted as immoral behaviour. However, in the 20th century, the harm principle
propounded by John Stuart Mill in his book On Liberty, according to which the law should not
sanction people for acting immorally unless their conduct involved some harm to others, gained
more and more popularity, and resulted in the abolition of large numbers of morals laws. These
trends triggered what is now known as the Hart-Devlin debate over the extent to which it is
legitimate for the law to enforce morality. Lord Devlin at the time, a judge in the House of
Lords, the highest court in the land argued that law should enforce morality so as to preserve
the cohesiveness of society. Professor H.L.A. Hart at the time, the most famous legal
philosopher in the world based his position squarely on Mills harm principle, though subject to
the caveats that the law might legitimately prevent someone acting immorally if doing so
involved harm to himself or would cause offence to others. Harts views are set out in his widely
read book Law, Liberty and Morality. Hart is thought to have won the debate but his
concessions that it might be legitimate to make it illegal for someone to engage in immoral
behaviour that will (i) harm himself or (ii) offend others, seem to make little sense. The same
point can be made about those morals laws that survived the 20th century cull: if law does not
have a role to play in encouraging us to do the right thing, why is it illegal to have sex in public,
or to have sex with animals, or to dig up dead bodies, or to take hallucinogenic drugs, or to help
someone kill themselves?
13

WHO IS A LAWYER?
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney,
counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct
established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of
political and social authority, and deliver justice. 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 retain (i.e., hire) lawyers to perform legal services. The role
of the lawyer varies significantly across legal jurisdictions, and so it can be treated here in only
the most general terms.
In practice, legal jurisdictions exercise their right to determine who is recognized as being a
lawyer. As a result, the meaning of the term "lawyer" may vary from place to place. In Australia,
the word "lawyer" is used to refer to both barristers and solicitors (whether in private practice or
practicing as corporate in-house counsel).
In Canada, the word "lawyer" only refers to individuals who have been called to the bar or, in
Quebec, have qualified as civil law notaries. Common law lawyers in Canada are formally and
properly called "barristers and solicitors", but should not be referred to as "attorneys", since that
term has a different meaning in Canadian usage. However, in Quebec, civil law advocates (or
avocets in French) often call themselves "attorney" and sometimes "barrister and solicitor" in
English.
In England and Wales, "lawyer" is used to refer to persons who provide reserved legal activities
and includes practitioners such as barristers, solicitors, registered foreign lawyers, patent
attorneys, trade mark attorneys, licensed conveyancers, commissioners for oaths, immigration
advisers and claims management services [Legal Services Act 2007] as well as people who are
involved with the law but do not practise it on behalf of individual clients, such as judges, court
clerks, and drafters of legislation.[citation needed]
14

In India, the term "lawyer" is often colloquially used, but the official term is "advocate" as
prescribed under the Advocates Act, 1961.
In Scotland, the word "lawyer" refers to a more specific group of legally trained people. It
specifically includes advocates and solicitors. In a generic sense, it may also include judges and
law-trained support staff.
In the United States, the term generally refers to attorneys who may practice law. It is never used
to refer to patent agents or paralegals. Other nations tend to have comparable terms for the
analogous.

BASIC PRINCIPLES ON THE ROLE OF LAWYERS

Whereas in the Charter of the United Nations the peoples of the world affirm, inter alia , their
determination to establish conditions under which justice can be maintained, and proclaim as one
of their purposes the achievement of international cooperation in promoting and encouraging
respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to race, sex, language
or religion, Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the principles of
equality before the law, the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair and public hearing by an
independent and impartial tribunal, and all the guarantees necessary for the defence of everyone
charged with a penal offence, Whereas the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
proclaims, in addition, the right to be tried without undue delay and the right to a fair and public
hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law, Whereas the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recalls the obligation of States
under the Charter to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and
freedoms, Whereas the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of
Detention or Imprisonment provides that a detained person shall be entitled to have the
15

assistance of, and to communicate and consult with, legal counsel, Whereas the Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners recommend, in particular, that legal assistance
and confidential communication with counsel should be ensured to untried prisoners, Whereas
the Safeguards guaranteeing protection of those facing the death penalty reaffirm the right of
everyone suspected or charged with a crime for which capital punishment may be imposed to
adequate legal assistance at all stages of the proceedings, in accordance with article 14 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Whereas the Declaration of Basic Principles
of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power recommends measures to be taken at the
international and national levels to improve access to justice and fair treatment, restitution,
compensation and assistance for victims of crime, Whereas adequate protection of the human
rights and fundamental freedoms to which all persons are entitled, be they economic, social and
cultural, or civil and political, requires that all persons have effective access to legal services
provided by an independent legal profession, Whereas professional associations of lawyers have
a vital role to play in upholding professional standards and ethics, protecting their members from
persecution and improper restrictions and infringements, providing legal services to all in need of
them, and cooperating with governmental and other institutions in furthering the ends of justice
and public interest.
The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, set forth below, which have been formulated to
assist Member States in their task of promoting and ensuring the proper role of lawyers,
should be respected and taken into account by Governments within the framework of their
national legislation and practice and should be brought to the attention of lawyers as well as
other persons, such as judges, prosecutors, members of the executive and the legislature, and
the public in general. These principles shall also apply, as appropriate, to persons who
exercise the functions of lawyers without having the formal status of lawyers.
Access to lawyers and legal services

1. All persons are entitled to call upon the assistance of a lawyer of their choice to protect and
establish their rights and to defend them in all stages of criminal proceedings.

16

2. Governments shall ensure that efficient procedures and responsive mechanisms for effective
and equal access to lawyers are provided for all persons within their territory and subject to their
jurisdiction, without distinction of any kind, such as discrimination based on race, colour, ethnic
origin, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth,
economic or other status.
3. Governments shall ensure the provision of sufficient funding and other resources for legal
services to the poor and, as necessary, to other disadvantaged persons. Professional associations
of lawyers shall cooperate in the organization and provision of services, facilities and other
resources.
4. Governments and professional associations of lawyers shall promote programmes to inform
the public about their rights and duties under the law and the important role of lawyers in
protecting their fundamental freedoms. Special attention should be given to assisting the poor
and other disadvantaged persons so as to enable them to assert their rights and where necessary
call upon the assistance of lawyers.
Special safeguards in criminal justice matters
5. Governments shall ensure that all persons are immediately informed by the competent
authority of their right to be assisted by a lawyer of their own choice upon arrest or detention or
when charged with a criminal offence.
6. Any such persons who do not have a lawyer shall, in all cases in which the interests of justice
so require, be entitled to have a lawyer of experience and competence commensurate with the
nature of the offence assigned to them in order to provide effective legal assistance, without
payment by them if they lack sufficient means to pay for such services.
7. Governments shall further ensure that all persons arrested or detained, with or without
criminal charge, shall have prompt access to a lawyer, and in any case not later than forty-eight
hours from the time of arrest or detention.

17

8. All arrested, detained or imprisoned persons shall be provided with adequate opportunities,
time and facilities to be visited by and to communicate and consult with a lawyer, without delay,
interception or censorship and in full confidentiality. Such consultations may be within sight, but
not within the hearing, of law enforcement officials.
Qualifications and training
9. Governments, professional associations of lawyers and educational institutions shall ensure
that lawyers have appropriate education and training and be made aware of the ideals and ethical
duties of the lawyer and of human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by national and
international law.
10. Governments, professional associations of lawyers and educational institutions shall ensure
that there is no discrimination against a person with respect to entry into or continued practice
within the legal profession on the grounds of race, colour, sex, ethnic origin, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, economic or other status, except that a
requirement, that a lawyer must be a national of the country concerned, shall not be considered
discriminatory.
11. In countries where there exist groups, communities or regions whose needs for legal services
are not met, particularly where such groups have distinct cultures, traditions or languages or have
been the victims of past discrimination, Governments, professional associations of lawyers and
educational institutions should take special measures to provide opportunities for candidates
from these groups to enter the legal profession and should ensure that they receive training
appropriate to the needs of their groups.
Duties and responsibilities
12. Lawyers shall at all times maintain the honour and dignity of their profession as essential
agents of the administration of justice.
13. The duties of lawyers towards their clients shall include:

18

(a) Advising clients as to their legal rights and obligations, and as to the working of the legal
system in so far as it is relevant to the legal rights and obligations of the clients;
(b) Assisting clients in every appropriate way, and taking legal action to protect their interests;
(c) Assisting clients before courts, tribunals or administrative authorities, where appropriate.
14. Lawyers, in protecting the rights of their clients and in promoting the cause of justice, shall
seek to uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by national and international
law and shall at all times act freely and diligently in accordance with the law and recognized
standards and ethics of the legal profession.
15. Lawyers shall always loyally respect the interests of their clients.

Guarantees for the functioning of lawyers

16. Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional
functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (b) are able to
travel and to consult with their clients freely both within their own country and abroad; and (c)
shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions
for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics.
17. Where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they
shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities.
18. Lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients' causes as a result of
discharging their functions.
19. No court or administrative authority before whom the right to counsel is recognized shall
refuse to recognize the right of a lawyer to appear before it for his or her client unless that lawyer
19

has been disqualified in accordance with national law and practice and in conformity with these
principles.
20. Lawyers shall enjoy civil and penal immunity for relevant statements made in good faith in
written or oral pleadings or in their professional appearances before a court, tribunal or other
legal or administrative authority.
21. It is the duty of the competent authorities to ensure lawyers access to appropriate
information, files and documents in their possession or control in sufficient time to enable
lawyers to provide effective legal assistance to their clients. Such access should be provided at
the earliest appropriate time.
22. Governments shall recognize and respect that all communications and consultations between
lawyers and their clients within their professional relationship are confidential.
Freedom of expression and association
23. Lawyers like other citizens are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and
assembly. In particular, they shall have the right to take part in public discussion of matters
concerning the law, the administration of justice and the promotion and protection of human
rights and to join or form local, national or international organizations and attend their meetings,
without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their lawful action or their membership in
a lawful organization. In exercising these rights, lawyers shall always conduct themselves in
accordance with the law and the recognized standards and ethics of the legal profession.
Professional associations of lawyers
24. Lawyers shall be entitled to form and join self-governing professional associations to
represent their interests, promote their continuing education and training and protect their
professional integrity. The executive body of the professional associations shall be elected by its
members and shall exercise its functions without external interference.
20

25. Professional associations of lawyers shall cooperate with Governments to ensure that
everyone has effective and equal access to legal services and that lawyers are able, without
improper interference, to counsel and assist their clients in accordance with the law and
recognized professional standards and ethics.
Disciplinary proceedings
26. Codes of professional conduct for lawyers shall be established by the legal profession
through its appropriate organs, or by legislation, in accordance with national law and custom and
recognized international standards and norms.
27. Charges or complaints made against lawyers in their professional capacity shall be processed
expeditiously and fairly under appropriate procedures. Lawyers shall have the right to a fair
hearing, including the right to be assisted by a lawyer of their choice.
28. Disciplinary proceedings against lawyers shall be brought before an impartial disciplinary
committee established by the legal profession, before an independent statutory authority, or
before a court, and shall be subject to an independent judicial review.
29. All disciplinary proceedings shall be determined in accordance with the code of professional
conduct and other recognized standards and ethics of the legal profession and in the light of these
principles.

ROLE OF LAWYERS IN FUCTIONING OF CLINICS

1. Integration of Social Values through Curriculum
Lack of social relevance and humanistic approach in the curriculum alienates social values,
ethics, gender perspectives, views of minority etc. Therefore, by way of adding courses to the
curriculum it address the issues of gender, cultural migration, minority and indigenous. Peoples
21

or allowing students to work with people of other cultures, we can equip law students to revisit
their responsibilities to the marginalized section of the society. The law curriculum should be
introduced in integration with other disciplines. It is time to appreciate that the subject matter of
economics, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, literature and psychology are essential to the
education of the future law graduates. As the minimum, the budding lawyers must be taught in
the economics of law, lawsuits and Lawyering.8
2. Professional Practice and Skills Development
Members of the legal profession need to play the role of educator, and counselor. Therefore,
lawyers must be trained in skills that provide for a broader understanding of various facets of
legal problems. Fundamental lawyering skills are important to provide social justice; however,
any set of skills confined only to traditional methods of problem solving would be manifestly
insufficient. Students would be required to undergo the entire process of lawyering either by
exposure to actual cases or in dramatic simulations. In both instances, they are -to act as lawyers
and learn the details of lawyering from the experience of being a lawyer, real or simulating.
While the students work under the supervision of a practicing lawyer or a clinical teacher, they
are expected to face situations, analyze facts and take decisions independently. In interacting
with the clients and confronting facts of diverse nature and presenting them in the court, the
student lawyers get the real touch of the picture of the society. They understand law in the
context of the problems of the society and can form opinion about the quality of a particular law.
This awakens the students to the issues of social justice and installs in them a sense of
professional responsibility. But how successfully they will master the skills of lawyering and
how much they will be sensitized to social problems will depend much on the quality of
supervision by the clinical teacher.
3. Externship
In externships, students either participate as lawyers in the representation of real clients under the
supervision of practicing lawyers or they observe or assist practicing lawyers or judges at work.
8 Prof. Jay Erstling Reform of Legal System (1993).
22

These forms of experiencing aim:

To broaden, extend, and deepen students' understanding of concepts and principles.
To help students integrate theory and practice.
To increase students motivation.
To help students develop the knowledge, skills, and values they need as professionals.

4. Legal Service
The primary obligation to provide legal services to the poor resides with the government, and to
a lesser extent, with the legal profession and not with law schools. Nevertheless, law schools do
have some obligation to contribute in solving the crisis of access to justice, and it seems obvious
that the obligation is best accomplished by law school clinics assisting lowincome individuals
and communities that are underserved or have particular difficulty obtaining lawyers because of
the nature of their legal problems. Unless we design our clinics to involve students in the
delivery of legal services to clients, we teach them too little about legal services work,
underexpose them to the real world of low income clients, miss opportunities to engage students
in seeking fundamental changes through class actions, and thus fail to meet the law school's
obligation to make. a meaningful contribution to addressing the access to justice problem.

5. The Legal Advice

Legal advice is a corollary of legal education and is the essential commitment legal aid. At the
pre-litigation stage when the legal problem has already arisen, a legally informed person listens
to the problem and gives advice as to how should the problem be dealt with.
6. Professional Ethics: Making Lawyers Work for the People

23

The whole idea of clinical legal education can go in vain if ethical side of legal profession is
overlooked. The objective of clinical legal education is not merely to help students master the
skills of lawyering and make them technically sound. In representing a client's case in the court,
student lawyer must not resort to any means, which is morally condemnable and must avoid
resorting to false witnesses and distortion of facts. While client's interest must guide his actions
and efforts, ethical and moral values must also be upheld, for in that lies greater good of the
society. In fact, in all the programs that are linked with clinical legal education emphasis is
always on the aspects of justice, protection of rights and progressive development of the society.
While execution of these programs requires moral and ethical motivation, successful
implementation of the programs will still further social and moral values in the students. Ethical
aspects of legal profession must be included in the law faculty curriculum. Interdisciplinary
approach to curriculum development is necessary to make the students more concerned about
society, to make them understand the requirements of its progressive and humanistic
development. For the legal education to have any practical learning it is important to guide the
students learn the lessons of ethics, morals, law, justice, human rights and society in their inter
relationship, so that they can better identify their tasks in the service of the people and in
progressive development of the society.

What traits an individual must have to be an effective lawyer:

In order for an individual to be an effective lawyer, he/she must have certain traits and attributes
in order to excel in this occupation. One important trait which lawyers should have is that of
articulation. A lawyer who can articulate effectively is one who will be more likely to succeed,
not only against opposition parties in the court but also to impress and put their client at ease as
well. An articulate lawyer is one who will see result.
Another trait which lawyers should have is intelligence, having this positive attribute will ensure
that the person representing the client is one who is smart enough to know what to do, when to
do it and how to go about getting the results which are necessary to win the case.

24

Good comprehension skills are another favourable trait which all lawyers should have. Although
one who likes to read may be a candidate for the legal profession, this in and of itself means
nothing if the person reading does not comprehend that which they just read. Statutes and
procedural rules are difficult to understand at times and those who have good comprehension
skills may prosper at being a lawyer as they will have to read the pertinent documentation much
less than those without good comprehension skills.
A good personality and willingness to work well with others are two additional positive traits
which all lawyers should possess. Some people may think that lawyers have to be tough as nails
in order to excel in the legal profession, but this is not entirely true. The saying that one catch
more flies with honey than vinegar is relevant with regard to being a lawyer. Negotiations go
much better when the lawyers put their best foot forward and are willing to come to an amicable
solution.
Lastly, persuasiveness is an additional trait which all lawyers should possess. Since, the legal
profession is the based around lawyers persuading individuals to see the point of view, a lawyer
must be persuasive in their speech and tactics.
The Indian Context
In India, the law relating to the Advocates is the Advocates Act, 1961 introduced and thought up
by Ashoke Kumar Sen, the then law minister of India, which is a law passed by the Parliament
and is administered and enforced by the Bar Council of India. Under the Act, the Bar Council of
India is the supreme regulatory body to regulate the legal profession in India and also to ensure
the compliance of the laws and maintenance of professional standards by the legal profession in
the country. For this purpose, the Bar Council of India is authorized to pass regulations and make
orders in individual cases and also generally.
Each State has a Bar Council of its own whose function is to enroll the Advocates willing to
practice predominately within the territorial confines of that State and to perform the functions of
the Bar Council of India within the territory assigned to them. Therefore each law degree holder
25

must be enrolled with a (single) State Bar Council to practice in India. However, enrollment with
any State Bar Council does not restrict the Advocate from appearing before any court in India,
even though it is beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the State Bar Council with he is enrolled in.
The advantage with having the State Bar Councils is that the work load of the Bar Council of
India can be divided into these various State Bar Councils and also that matters can be dealt with
locally and in an expedited manner. However for all practical and legal purposes, the Bar
Council of India retains with it the final power to take decisions in any and all matters related to
the legal profession on the whole or with respect to any Advocate individually, as so provided
under the Advocates Act, 1961.
The process for being entitled to practice in India is twofold. First, the applicant must be a holder
of a law degree from a recognized institution in India (or from one of the four recognised
Universities in the United Kingdom) and second, must pass the enrollment qualifications of the
Bar Council of the state where he/she seeks to be enrolled. For this purpose, the Bar Council of
India has an internal Committee whose function is to supervise and examine the various
institutions conferring law degrees and to grant recognition to these institutions once they meet
the required standards. In this manner the Bar Council of India also ensures the standard of
education required for practicing in India are met with. As regards the qualification for
enrollment with the State Bar Council, while the actual formalities may vary from one State to
another, yet predominately they ensure that the application has not been a bankrupt /criminal and
is generally fit to practice before courts of India.
Enrollment with a Bar Council also means that the law degree holder is recognized as an
Advocate and is required to maintain a standards of conduct and professional demeanor at all
times, both on and off the profession. The Bar Council of India also prescribes "Rules of
Conduct" to be observed the Advocates in the courts, while interacting with clients and even
otherwise.
All Advocates in India are at the same level and are recognized as such. Any distinction, if any, is
made only on the basis of seniority, which implies the length of practice at the Bar. As a
recognition of law practice and specialization in an area of law, there is a concept of conferral of
26

Senior Advocate status. An Advocate may be recognized by the Judges of the High Court (in
case of an Advocate practicing before that High Court) or by the Supreme Court (in case of the
Advocate practicing before the Supreme Court). While the conferral of Senior Advocate status
not only implies distinction and fame of the Advocate, it also requires the Senior Advocate to
follow higher standards of conduct and some distinct rules. Also, a Senior Advocate is not
allowed to interact directly with the clients. He can only take briefs from other Advocates and
argue on the basis of the details given by them. From the year 2010 onwards a mandatory rule is
made for lawyers passing out from the year 2009-10 to sit for an evaluation test named AIBE
(All India Bar Exam) for one to qualify as an advocate and practice in the courts
Further, under the Constitutional structure, there is a provision for elevation of Advocates as
judges of High Courts and Supreme Court. The only requirement is the Advocate must have a ten
years standing before the High Court or before the Supreme Court to be eligible for such.
(Article 217 and 124 of the Constitution of India for High Courts and Supreme Court
respectively)

ROLE OF ADVOCATES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGAL AID SCHEMES

The preamble of the Constitution of India assures justice, social economic and political to all
citizens of the country. The Articles 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India impose an implicit
responsibility on the State to ensure that none is deprived of legal assistance for reasons of
economic or other disabilities so that equal justice is provided to all citizens of the country.
Article 39-A mandates that the State shall provide free legal aid by suitable legislation or
schemes or in any other way to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to
any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. The principle contained in Article 39-A
are fundamental and cast duty on the State to secure that the operation of the legal system
promotes justice to all citizens and particularly the poor and the marginalized. However, despite
this Constitutional mandate, poor remain deprived of appropriate legal assistance for a long time
after independence.

27

The Supreme Court in Husssainara Kathoon vs Home Secretary, State of Bihar9 commented
on the sad plight of poor in the following words :"We may also take this opportunity of impressing upon the Government of India as also the State
Governments, the urgent necessity of introducing a dynamic and comprehensive legal service
programme with a view to reaching justice to the common man. Today, unfortunately, in our
country the poor are priced out of the judicial system with the result that they are losing faith in
the capacity of our legal system to bring about changes in their life conditions and to deliver
justice to them. The poor in their contact with legal system have always been on the wrong side
of the law. They have always come across 'law for the poor' rather than 'law of the poor'. The law
is regarded by them as something mysterious and forbidding - always taking something away
from them and not as a positive and constructive social device for changing the socio-economic
order and improving their life conditions by conferring rights and benefits on them. The result is
that the legal system has lost its credibility for the weaker sections of the community. It is,
therefore, necessary that we should inject equal justice into legality and that can be done only by
dynamic and activist scheme of legal services. We may remind the government of the famous
words of Mr. Justice Brennan - "Nothing rankles more in the human heart than a brooding sense
of injustice. Illness we can put up with. But injustice makes us was not to pull things down.
When only the rich can enjoy the law, as a doubtful luxury, and the poor, who need it, cannot
have it because its expense puts it beyond their reach, the threat to the continued existence of free
democracy is not imaginary but very real, because democracy's very life depends upon making
the machinery of justice so effective that every citizen shall believe in and benefit by its
impartiality and fairness.
The Supreme Court in this case strongly recommended that the Government of India and the
State Governments should devise and introduced a comprehensive legal service programme in
the country which is not only a mandate of equal justice implicit in Article 14 and the Right of
Life and Liberty conferred by Article 21 but also the compulsion of the constitutional directive
embodied in Article 39-A.

9 (AIR 1979 SC 1369)

28

ROLE OF ADVOCATES
Legal profession is monopolistic in character and this monopoly itself inheres certain high
traditions, which its members are expected to upkeep and uphold. Law is a Hon'ble profession
and an Advocate is an Officer of justice and friend of the Court. He is an integral part for the
administration of justice. From the ancient times, the legal obligations of the Advocates to
conduct the case of a poor litigant without reward when so required by the Court has been
recognized not only in our country and in England but also in US and other Countries. However,
in practice, Counsels have been assigned only in criminal cases of serious nature and a few civil
cases.
The critical position enjoyed by an Advocate in administration of justice in fact imposes a
responsibility upon him to ensure that justice is made available to all. Rule 46 of Bar Council if
India Rules in part-VI relating to a standard professional conduct and etiquette reminds
Advocates of the obligation they owes to the society. The Rule reads as under:"Every Advocate shall in the practice of the profession of law bear in mind that any one
genuinely in need of a lawyer is entitled to legal assistance even tough he cannot pay for it fully
or adequately and that within the limits of an Advocate's economic condition, free legal
assistance to the indigent and oppressed is one of the highest obligations an Advocate owes to
society." To ensure justice to poor and marginalized sections of the society, an Advocate is
required to provide them legal assistance even when they are not in position either to pay him at
all or adequately pay him for his services. In fact the least duty expected of an Advocate is to
play his role sincerely in implementing the various legal aid schemes available under the Legal
Services Authorities Act, 1987 - be it legal aid to poor and other marginalized sections of the
society or promotion of legal literacy or facilitating resolution of disputes through Lok Adalats.
The role of the Advocates in implementation of these schemes becomes pivotal due to the fact
that legal profession being monopolistic, the various schemes of legal aid under the Act can only
be put into operation through Advocates.
Assignment of a competent Advocate to take up the case of a poor litigant is the most crucial
component in providing effective and purposeful legal aid to the weaker sections of the society.
29

The Advocate is paid by the concerned Legal Services Authority but this payment is generally
quite low as compared to the normal fee charged by the Advocate. As such, well established
Advocates are generally reluctant to undertake assignment as an Advocate under the scheme of
legal aid under the Legal Services Authorities Act. The result is that newly enrolled Advocates or
Advocates, who do not have enough cases with them alone opt for taking up such cases with the
result that the poor and marginalized person get only substandard legal assistance, which is a
serious handicap in successfully implementing the legal aid scheme for weaker sections of the
society. The reluctance of senior Advocates in doing service to the community is becoming a
serious constraint in the success of the legal aid scheme in India.

The Supreme Court in the case of Kishore Chand vs. State of H.P.

10

commented on this

situation as under:"Though Article 39-A of the Constitution provides fundamental rights to equal justice and free
legal aid and though the State provides amicus curiae to defend the indigent accused, he would
be meted out with unequal defence if, as is common knowledge the youngster from the Bar who
has either a little experience or no experience is assigned to defend him. It is high time that
senior counsel practicing in the Court concerned, volunteer to defend such indigent accused as a
part of their professional duty."
The situation in India is in contrast to the situation existing in Britain. Michael Zander, who
studied the legal system of Britain to suggest law reforms records with satisfaction in his book
"A Master of Justice" that in Britain, a large number of competent senior Barristers are busy in
acting as amicus curiae in courts and in providing legal aid to the poor for which they are paid by
the State. The Advocates in India need to take a lesson from their British counterparts in this
respect and need to inculcate the spirit of dedication to the cause of justice and for community
service so that legal aid movement could succeed in India. Indeed, failure to make justice
available to poor may threaten the very existence of the democracy and the rule of law. The

10 AIR 1990 SC 2140

30

members of the legal profession would do well to bear in mind the famous words said by
Leeman Abbot Years ago in relation to affluent America "If ever a time shall come when in this city only the rich can enjoy law as a doubtful luxury,
when the poor who need it most cannot have it, when only a golden key will unlock the door to
the court-room, the seeds of revolution will be sown' the fire-brand of revolution will be lighted
and put into the hands of men and they will almost be justified in the revolution which will
follow".
There have been many instances where Advocates in India have taken the causes of poor and
downtrodden without any reward and have ensured justice to them. Unfortunately, there have
also been instances where lawyers assigned by public funds have not faithfully played their role
in implementation of the legal aid schemes which has cast a serious doubt on the very credibility
of a scheme of legal aid available to weaker sections of society in India. The dark side of the
legal aid scheme and how the lawyers are swindling the unsuspecting and ever gullible poor
litigants as well as petty criminals and first time convicts, most of whom are so because of
compelling circumstances, was reported by the Indian Express in a news item under the caption
"Free Legal Aid for a Fee". The paper reported how Advocates were abusing the scheme and
funds of free legal aid. The modus operandi reported was that the lawyers engaged by the Legal
Aid Committee were fleecing money from the parties on whose behalf they had been engaged
and holding their cases to ransom by delaying tactics. In the process, many innocent persons
were also being compelled to pay large amounts to the lawyers, who are supposed to get their fee
from the Legal Aid Committee and to be giving a service for the cause of justice. The
phenomenon is not new and has been in existence since the establishment of the institution of
free legal aid and has been flourishing since then.
Lawyers can always be innovative as any other professionals, in fact much more than that. After
all they provide escape routes in people of any hue in trouble. They know how to break laws and
get away with it.

31

Free legal aid undoubtedly is beneficial to poor people and has been instituted with noble
purpose. Yet it has become a good ground for breeding corruption. Free legal aid for a fee is
common practice. Once a lawyer is engaged through legal aid, obviously the party or his men
would come to the lawyer for consultations and it is then that they are asked to fish out some
money which they naturally cannot refuse. One factor that may be contributing to this is that the
remuneration paid to lawyers by Legal Aid Committee is very low and sometimes even does not
meet the incidental expenses what to speak of compensating the labour put in by the lawyer.
Beyond that the greed to pocket some easy money out of the helplessness of the victim is always
there. But what speaks worst about the system is the fact that entrustment of the cases to
Advocates under the scheme has become a case of distribution of largesee amongst the
favourites, which is guided by factors other than the capacity of the lawyer to deliver the results.
In the circumstances, the quality of legal service provided to poor and downtrodden sections of
the society is seriously compromised to the detriment of justice to them. The result is that whole
purpose of the scheme gets defeated.
Considering that Administration of Justice is a central function of Advocates, it is incumbent
upon them to play a purposeful role in implementation of various legal aid schemes provided
under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. The Advocates, as a class and senior Advocates
in particular have a solemn duty to ensure justice to all citizens and particularly to poor and
marginalized sections of the society and they should rise up to meet the challenge effectively and
successfully. The consequences of failure of legal aid schemes are too serious to be ignored.
There is no doubt that legal community in India will rise to the occasion and meet the challenge
successfully and effectively. Justice to poor alone is the lasting guarantee of continued existence
of Rule of Law and democracy in the country.

ROLE OF LAWYER
Fundamental to any study of lawyer ethics is an appreciation of the lawyers role with respect to
clients, the profession itself, the state and the public interest generally. The words of the lawyer
codes themselves have a general nature. Their interpretation and understanding comes from
reading them in the context of the lawyers role. Lawyers obviously play different roles
32

depending on their place in the legal profession and the nature of their law practice or activity.
Judges and prosecutors have fundamentally different roles from those of private lawyers. But
even within the ranks of those we would usually call lawyer, different practice settings shade
the lawyers role in different ways. Criminal defence lawyers have special responsibilities and
duties; in-house corporate lawyers the same; lawyers for government agencies serve somewhat
different interests than do private lawyers. Always consider the particular place of a lawyer in
society when considering that lawyers proper course in a given circumstance.
The role of lawyer, of course, will vary from one legal system to another. But some generalities
can be drawn. Lawyers bring the law to non-lawyers by advising clients and by drafting
documents that make clients transactions work to serve the clients interests within legal
constraints. Lawyers make the system of justice work. Their role is more active in the litigation
process in common law countries, to be sure, but in civil as well as common law countries, the
lawyer plays a crucial role in operating the system of justice, shepherding cases through the
system. Lawyers play an important role in law making as well. Many lawyers serve in
legislatures and parliaments and often lawyers are called upon to advise parliaments on the
details of new laws.
Fair-minded people hold different views of what a lawyer does. Some may say that a lawyer is
simply a business person, not unlike the barber, the doctor or the shop owner, providing a service
to paying customers. Others will see a more public-abiding role for the lawyer, providing a
service to paying clients but also maintaining an eye on the public interest, justice, and fairness
of society. This difference in view will account for differing opinions about what a lawyer should
do in a morally difficult position.
In democratic societies, lawyers surely fill an important role that no other professional fills: the
lawyer is the guardian of the rule of law, the ideal that all people stand equally before the law and
neither expect nor receive special treatment from it. In emerging democracies, this role is
especially important for lawyers, who have the potential to become the great levellers between
the powerful and the less so. To be sure, the market for lawyer services, even in the most wellestablished democracies, is tilted sharply toward the corporate world and toward those with
means. But guarantees of the right to counsel in criminal matters, government funded legal aid
33

for the poor (limited as it is), and pro bono activities of private lawyers, all combine to create
some promise that the most important matters affecting the poor and the powerless will also be
served by lawyers and the legal profession.

PROVISIONS IN ADVOCATES ACT 1961

The advocates act 1961 is a comprehensive legislation that regulates the legal practice and legal
education in India. It envisages for the establishment of Bar Council of India and State Bar
Councils with various disciplinary committees to deal with misconduct of the advocates. It also
provides for the provisions relating to the admission and enrolment of advocates and advocates
right to practice. Chapter V containing sections 35 to 44 deals with the conduct of the advocates.
It provides for punishment for advocates for professional and other misconduct and disciplinary
powers of the Bar council of India. In order to attract the application of section 35 of the
advocates act the misconduct need not be professional misconduct alone. The expression used in
the section is Professional or other misconduct. So even conduct unconnected with the profession
may account to a misconduct as for example, conviction for a crime, though the crime was not
commited in the professional capacity. At the same time it is to be noted that a mere conviction is
not sufficient to find an advocate guilty of misconduct, the court must look in to the nature of the
act on which the conviction is based to decide whether the advocate is or is not an unfit person to
be removed from or to be allowed to remain in the profession. Misconduct is of infinite variety,
the expression professional or other misconduct must be understood in their plain and natural
meaning and there is no justification in restricting their natural meaning. The term misconduct
usually implies an act done wilfully with a wrong intention and as applied to professional people
it includes unprofessional acts even though such acts are not inherently wrongful.
34

INSTANCES OF MISCONDUCT
Legal Practioners act 1879 has not defined the word Misconduct. The word Unprofessional
conduct is used in the act. Even the Advocates Act 1961 has not defined the term misconduct
because of the wide scope and application of the term. Hence to understand the instances of
misconduct we have to rely on decided cases. Some of the instances of Professional misconduct
are as follows,
1) Dereliction of duty
2) Professional negligence
3) Misappropriation
4) Changing sides
5) Contempt of court and improper behaviour before a magistrate
6) Furnishing false information
7) Giving improper advice
8) Misleading the clients in court
9) Non speaking the truth
10) Disowning allegiance to court
11) Moving application without informing that a similar application has been rejected by another
authority
35

12) Suggesting to bribe the court officials

13) Forcing the procecution witness not to tell the truth.

CJI INAUGURATES 2,648 VILLAGE LEGAL AID CLINICS

With the motto that no person in the country should starve from hunger of justice, the Supreme
Court and National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Friday opened more than their doorstep.
Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam, along with Justice R M Lodha, who is also executive
chairman of NALSA, and Justice A K Patnaik, chairperson of the SC Legal Services Committee,
inaugurated 2,648 legal aid clinics in the villages on the lines of primary health centres.
These village legal services clinics will dole out legal advices to people with the help of
paralegal volunteers and empanelled lawyers, besides assisting them in getting BPL card,
Election ID, Aadhaar Card, gas connection and other government welfare schemes. Speaking on
the occasion, Justice Sathasivam spoke about the resolve to make legal aid available to the
weakest of the persons in the country and urged the volunteers to play a vibrant and proactive
role in this empowerment scheme. Justice Lodha said that these centres will help villagers
overcome the problems they face due to ignorance of the law and illiteracy. Our efforts are to
ensure that no citizen starves from hunger of justice and everyone, who deserves justice, gets the
justice, he said.
Justice Patnaik emphasised on the relevance of making legal assistance available at the
doorstep so that many issues are resolved even before they translate into litigation.11
11 Express News Service, New Delhi, Posted: January 25, 2014 2:41 am.See
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/cji-inaugurates-2648-village-legal-aidclinics/

36

FREE LEGAL AID CLINIC

The free legal aid clinic for parents of people with mental disabilities conducted with the support
of the Madurai District Legal Services Authority (MDLSA) has turned a success story with 565
parents benefitting out of it. The exemplary model established in Madurai district in 2010 was
the first-of-its-kind legal service in the state when started. The parents of mentally challenged
people need legal help in several grounds as there are several complications involved in setting
guardians, obtaining disability certificate and free treatment. Property issue is another major area
where parents need so much of guidance from legal experts. It was started to sensitise not only
the families of those with mental disabilities but also the judicial officers and lawyers about the
problems faced by the parents. The free legal aid clinic at M S Chellamuthu Trust and Research
Foundation, a Madurai-based NGO has so far given support for 98 guardianship issues, 165
disability certificates, 140 free treatments, 53 property issues, 59 pension allocation after death of
parents, nine divorce cases and 41 counselling. A panel of lawyers along with paralegal
volunteers would meet every Tuesday and Saturdays between 2 and 5pm and provide legal
support.12

12 Free legal aid clinic benefits many, enters fifth year. TNN, Apr 17, 2014, 03.11AM IST. See
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Free-legal-aid-clinic-benefits-many-entersfifth-year/articleshow/
33836215.cms

37

CONCLUSION
It is necessary to emphasize that the purpose and scope of legal education must be to prepare
students for the practice of the profession of law. Therefore, the law and legal education which
together constitute the backbone of society should change according to the changing needs and
interests of the ever changing society.
The role of the lawyers in the society is of great importance. They being part of the system of
delivering justice holds great reverence and respect in the society. Each individual has a welldefined code of conduct which needs to be followed by the person living in the society. A lawyer
in discharging his professional assignment has a duty to his client, a duty to his opponent, a duty
to the court, a duty to the society at large and a duty to himself. It needs a high degree of probity
and poise to strike a balance and arrive at the place of righteous stand, more so, when there are
conflicting claims. While discharging duty to the court, a lawyer should never knowingly be a
party to any deception, design or fraud. While placing the law before the court a lawyer is at
liberty to put forth a proposition and canvass the same to the best of his wits and ability so as to
persuade an exposition which would serve the interest of his client and the society. The advocate,
as an officer of the Court, also has the responsibility to render services of sound quality. Lapses
38

in services in the nature of absence when the matters are called out, the filing of incomplete and
inaccurate pleadings many times even illegible and without personal check and verification, the
non-payment of court fees and process fees, the failure to remove office objections, the failure to
take steps to serve the parties are not merely professional omission. They amount to positive disservice to the litigants and create embarrassing situation in the court leading to avoidable
unpleasantness and delay in the disposal of matters, and detrimentally affects the entire judicial
system. Furthermore, as the officers of the court the lawyers are required to uphold the dignity of
the judicial office and maintain a respectful attitude towards the Court. This is because the Bar
and the Bench form a noble and dynamic partnership geared to the great social goal of
administration of justice, and the mutual respect of the Bar and the Bench is essential for
maintaining cordial relations between the two. It is the duty of an advocate to uphold the dignity
and decorum of the Court and must not do anything to bring the Court itself into disrepute, and
ensure that at no point of time, he oversteps the limits of propriety.
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern
behaviour, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and
serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from
buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets. Property law defines rights and obligations
related to the transfer and title of personal and real property. Trust law applies to assets held for
investment and financial security, while tort law allows claims for compensation if a person's
rights or property are harmed. If the harm is criminalized in legislation, criminal law offers
means by which the state can prosecute the perpetrator. Constitutional law provides a framework
for the creation of law, the protection of human rights and the election of political
representatives. Administrative law is used to review the decisions of government agencies,
while international law governs affairs between sovereign states in activities ranging from trade
to environmental regulation or military action. The legal response to a given social or
technological problem is therefore in itself a major social action which may aggravate a given
problem or alleviate and help to solve it. Lawyers are individuals who have a wide range of
responsibilities and duties when it comes to their profession. Their role in society is even more
important as they are acting as a voice for 53 others. A lawyers function therefore lays on him a
variety of legal and moral obligations toward: the client; the courts and other authorities before
39

whom the lawyer pleads the clients cause or acts on his behalf; the legal profession in general
and each fellow member of it in particular; the public for whom the existence of a free and
independent profession itself is an essential means of safeguarding human rights in face of the
power of the state and other interests in society. The role of the lawyers in the society is of great
importance. They being part of the system of delivering justice holds great reverence and respect
in the society. Each individual has a well-defined code of conduct which needs to be followed by
the person living in the society. A lawyer in discharging his professional assignment has a duty to
his client, a duty to his opponent, a duty to the court, a duty to the society at large and a duty to
himself. It needs a high degree of probity and poise to strike a balance and arrive at the place of
righteous stand, more so, when there are conflicting claims. While discharging duty to the court,
a lawyer should never knowingly be a party to any deception, design or fraud. While placing the
law before the court a lawyer is at liberty to put forth a proposition and canvass the same to the
best of his wits and ability so as to persuade an exposition which would serve the interest of his
client and the society.
The advocate, as an officer of the Court, also has the responsibility to render services of sound
quality. Lapses in services in the nature of absence when the matters are called out, the filing of
incomplete and inaccurate pleadings many times even illegible and without personal check and
verification, the non-payment of court fees and process fees, the failure to remove office
objections, the failure to take steps to serve the parties are not merely professional omission.
They amount to positive dis-service to the litigants and create embarrassing situation in the court
leading to avoidable unpleasantness and delay in the disposal of matters, and detrimentally
affects the entire judicial system. Furthermore, as the officers of the court the lawyers are
required to uphold the dignity of the judicial office and maintain a respectful attitude towards the
Court. This is because the Bar and the Bench form a noble and dynamic partnership geared to the
great social goal of administration of justice, and the mutual respect of the Bar and the Bench is
essential for maintaining cordial relations between the two. It is the duty of an advocate to
uphold the dignity and decorum of the Court and must not do anything to bring the Court itself
into disrepute, and ensure that at no point of time, he oversteps the limits of propriety.

40

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Balin Hazarika, Role of lawyer in the Society, The Clarion: Multidisciplinary
International Journal, Volume I Number I February (2012) pp. 148-52, ISSN: 2277-1697

Anil Albert DSouza, Importance of law in the society, The Hindu Journal. [Published
Date: April 11, 2013]

N.R. Madhav Menon, Clinical Legal Education, Eastern Book Company (2008).
Dr. J.N. Pandey, The Constitutional Law of India, 47th Edition, Central Law Agency
Frank S. Bloch, The Global Clinical Movement Educating Lawyers for Social Justice
(2007)

ONLINE SOURCES

www.legalservice.india
www.manupatra.com
www.indiankanoon.com
www.scconline.com
www.indianexpress.com
www.thehindu.com

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