Training Grounds and Meeting Clients

Training Grounds for young lawyers

1. Attend the chambers of a senior practitioner

–You should have courage to stand on your own legs, this will be a preparation for it

–Know the atmosphere of law

–Get inspired from 

•senior’s mode of dealing with cases

•Way of drafting pleadings

•Conducting the examination of witnesses in court

–Make yourself indispensable with the matter asked to be studied by your senior 

2. Next training ground is court-house 

–Never remain absent from court because you have no work to do there 

–Always be in court, fully dressed (need to get accustomed to it) 

–Learn by the mistakes of others! 

–You will have opportunities for making yourself known; never miss those

Meeting Clients

•Allow him to say in full 

–Don’t interrupt, he may repeat things, allow him 

–Hear the whole tale, cannot afford to miss even one relevant fact 

–Plus you’ll come to know if he is telling the same story 

–Reserve your questions till the end 

•Proceed cautiously 

–Do not take for granted everything he says 

•He may want to make you believe in a false case 

–Enquire properly, examine the facts and arrive at a conclusion 

–Client may promise a host of witnesses and a heap of documents 

–Don’t be misled; examine those documents carefully; 

–Do not rely on the client’s statements 

•Don’t avoid a discussion with your clients 

–Even though he may not be knowing law and his opinion may not have value as such 

•Take written notes; 

–Never safe to rely wholly on your memory

•After careful examination, be honest with him 

–Make him understand that he does not have a case 

–Better to let him know in the beginning 

•About charging a fee 

–Should not be either oppressive or too low 

–Neither overestimate the value of your services nor underrate it