Conduct in Court and Professional Conduct in general

Conduct in Court

1.Be calm and composed 

–Wait till the Judge asks you to proceed

–Self possession, pleasant humour, modesty

2.Don’t interrupt the Judge

–Don’t jump at conclusions

3.Same with your opponent

4.Don’t argue across the bar (i.e. with opponents)

–Present arguments to the Judge

5. Never contradict a Judge (even though he may be incorrect) 

6. Answer the questions directly 

–Relevance or futility does not matter 

7. Never offer to argue when not called for, never continue it when Judge is in your favour 

8. Don’t lose balance or temper if Judge reacts differently 

9. Don’t speak ill of any Judge

10. Present your best evidence/point first

–Creates favourable first impression and Judge may accept other weaker points if any

Justice Williams: “If you do not make an impression within the first fifteen minutes you may argue till the end of the day without making any”

–Court may feel that so much time has been needlessly wasted initially over weak points 

•Judge may observe prima facie that if it were a good point, advocate would have made it in the beginning 

•So if your arguments are direct and to the point and you don’t beat around the bush, Judge would appreciate it. 

11. Always look the Judge in the face and not down 

–How Judge takes your points; face is the best index 

12. Start your case from the beginning, like you are telling a story for the first time 

13. Get into the habit of reading from the records, than from your memory

14. Always quote the references; language quoted from a decision or textbook makes greater appeal to the Judge than our own language

15. Language employed must be correct

–Read good judgments to acquire correct legal phraseology

16. Do not conceal points/cases against you from the Court; failure to refer may be construed as your weakness

17. Begin with

–Account of the parties

–Circumstances that led to the present dispute

–Precise nature of the dispute

–Points at issue

–Proofs that you intend to produce in order to establish them 

Professional Conduct in general

•What is morally wrong cannot be professionally right.

•Things to remember

–Touting (Commission)

•Advocate must not seek business, but business must seek advocates

–Advertising

•Your work must speak for itself

–Interview to media over pending matter

–Duty must prevail over interest

–You must not appear before a local authority of which you are a member or in a case against it.

–If you are appearing as a counsel, you should not give evidence as a witness (and vice versa) 

•Suspicion on character, loss of respect for the profession, diminish public confidence 

–You should refuse to accept a case when it is clear that the Client has no case 

–Your efforts must not be dependent on the amount of fees once you have determined it.