A Lawyer Must Know Some Gist Etiquette and Conduct Before They Have to Come Before The Learned Judge's Court or Before Hon'ble High Court.
Those Etiquette and Conduct Are Stated as Follows-
| High Court Of Bangladesh |
(As It Is From The Source)
BANGLADESH BAR COUNCIL CANONS OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETIQUETTE, 1969
Framed in exercise of the power conferred on the
Bangladesh Bar Council by Section 48(q) of the Legal Practitioners & Bar
Council Act, 1965 and adopted by a resolution of the Bar Council on the 5th
January, 1969.] [vide Article 44(g)]
4. An Advocate shall not communicate about a subject of
controversy with a party represented by an Advocate in the absence and without
the consent of such Advocate.
WHEREAS the rule of law is an essential feature of
civilized society and a pre-condition for realizing the ideal justice;
AND WHEREAS such a society affords to all citizens the
equal protection of law and thereby secures to them the enjoyment of their
lives, property and honour;
AND WHEREAS an indispensable condition of such
protection of the rights of citizens is the existence in society of a community
of Advocates, men learned in the law and respected as models of integrity,
imbued with the spirit of public service and dedicated to the task of upholding
the rule of law and defending at all times, without fear or favour, the rights
of citizens;
AND WHEREAS by their efforts Advocates are expected to
contribute significantly towards the creation and maintenance of conditions in
which a government established by law can function fruitfully so as to ensure
the realization of political, economic and social justice by all citizens;
AND WHEREAS in order effectively to discharge these
high duties Advocates must conform to certain norms of correct conduct in their
relations with members of the profession, their clients, the courts and the
members of the public generally;
AND WHEREAS the Bangladesh Bar Council has
formulated such norms of correct conduct into a set of Canons of Professional
Conduct and Etiquette;
NOW THE Bangladesh Bar Council does hereby approve and
adopt the Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette set out hereunder, and
urges upon all Advocates to conform to these Canons in their conduct with
regard to the members of the profession, their clients, the courts and the
public generally.
CHAPTER 1
CONDUCT
WITH REGARD TO OTHER ADVOCATES
1. It is the duty of every Advocate to uphold at all times
the dignity and high standing of his profession, as well as his own dignity and
high standing as a member thereof.
2. An Advocate shall not solicit professional employment by
advertisement or by any other means. This clause shall not be construed as
prohibiting the publication or use of ordinary professional cards, name plates
or conventional listings in directories, so long as the information contained
therein is limited to professional and academic qualifications and public
offices currently held, and does not contain any matter which savours of
personal advertisement.
3. An Advocate shall not employ any other person to solicit
or obtain professional employment nor remunerate another for soliciting or
obtaining professional employment for him; nor shall he share with an
unlicensed person any compensation, arising out of or incidental to
professional employment, nor shall he aid or abet an unlicensed person to
practise law or to receive compensation thereof; nor shall he knowingly accept
professional employment offered to him as a result of or as incidental to the
activities of an unlicensed person.
5. An Advocate shall not, in the absence of the opposing
counsel communicate with or argue before a judge or judicial officer except in
open court and the merits of a contested matter pending before such judge or
judicial officer; nor shall he, without furnishing the opposing Advocate with a
copy thereof, address a written communica-tion to a judge or judicial officer
concerning the merits of a contested matter pending before such judge or judicial
officer. This rule shall not apply to exparte matters or in respect of matters
not sub-judice before the judge or judicial officer concerned.
6. A client's proffer of assistance of additional Advocate/s
should not be regarded as evidence of want of confidence but the matter should
be left to the determination of the client. An Advocate should decline
association as a colleague unless the dues of the Advocate first retained are
paid.
7. Clients, not Advocates, are the litigants. Whatever may be
the ill feeling existing between clients, it should not be allowed to influence
Advocates in their conduct and demeanour toward each other or toward the
parties in the case. All personal clashes between Advocates should be
scrupulously avoided, in the trial of a cause it is indecent to allude to the
personal history or the personal peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of Advocates
appearing on the other side. Personal colloquies between Advocates which cause
delay and promote unseemly wrangling should be carefully avoided.
8. No division of fees with any person for legal services is
proper, except with another Advocate based upon the principle of division of
work as expressed in the agreement between the Advocates.
9. Subject to the precedence of the Attorney General and the
Advocate General as established by constitutional usage and practice, it is the
duty of Advocates to maintain and uphold the order of precedence in accordance
with the Roll of Advocates maintained by the Bar Council,
10. Junior and younger members should always be respectful to
senior and older members. The latter are expected to be not only courteous but
also helpful to their junior and younger brethren at the Bar.
11. Where more than one Advocate is engaged on any side it is
the right of the senior member to lead the case and the junior members to
assist him.
CHAPTER II
CONDUCT
WITH REGARD TO CLIENTS
1. An Advocate shall not acquire an interest adverse to a
client in the property or interest involved in the case.
2. An Advocate shall not accept employment adverse to a
client or former client, relating to a matter in reference to which he has
obtained confidential information by reason of or in the course of his
employment by such client or former client provided that an Advocate, who has not
been formally engaged by a person and accepted a retainer nor received any fees
for such engagement is not precluded from accepting employment adverse to the
interest of such a person.
3. An Advocate shall not accept professional employment
without first disclosing his relation, if any, with the adverse party, and his
interest, if any, in the subject matter of such employment.
4. An Advocate shall not represent conflicting interests.
5. An Advocate shall not himself or in benami purchase any
property at a probate, foreclosure or judicial sale in an auction or proceeding
in which such Advocate appears for a party nor shall he accept the whole or
part of the property, in respect of which he had been engaged to conduct the
case, in lieu of his remuneration, or as a reward or bounty.
6. An Advocate shall not commingle the property of a client
with his own and shall promptly report to the client the receipt by him of any
money or other property belonging to such client.
7. An Advocate shall not advise the commencement of
prosecution or defence of case, unless he has been consulted in reference
thereto, except when his relation to a party or to the subject matter is such
as to make it proper for him to do so.
8. An Advocate in his professional capacity shall not advise
the violation of any law. This rule shall not apply to advice given in good
faith, that a law is invalid.
9. It is the right of an Advocate to undertake the defence of
a person accused of crime, regardless of his personal opinion as distinguished
from knowledge, as to the guilt of the accused; otherwise innocent persons,
victims merely of suspicious circumstances, might be denied proper defence.
Having undertaken such defence, an Advocate, is bound by all fair and
honourable means, to present every defence that the law of the land permits, to
the end that no person may be deprived of life or liberty except by due process
of law.
10. In fixing fees, Advocates should avoid charges which
overestimate their advice and services as well as those which undervalue them.
A client's ability to pay cannot justify a charge in excess of the value of the
service, though his property may justify a lesser charge, or even none at all.
The reasonable requests of a brother Advocate should also receive special and
kindly consideration. In respect of the widows and orphans of an Advocate, all
Advocates shall assist them free of charge.
In determining the amount of fee, it is proper to consider;
(i) the time and labour required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions
involved and the skill requisite properly to conduct the case; (ii) whether the
acceptance of employment in a particular case will preclude the Advocate's
appearance for others in cases likely to arise out of the transaction, about
which there is a reasonable expectation that otherwise he would be employed, or
will involve the loss of other business while employed in a particular case;
(iii) the customary charges of the Bar for similar service; (iv) the amount
involved in the controversy and the benefits resulting to the client from the
services; (v) the contingency or the certainty of the compensation, and (vi)
the character of the employment, whether casual or for an established and
constant client. Of these considerations, none in itself is the controlling
factor. These are more guidelines in ascertaining the real value of the
service. In fixing fees, it should never be forgotten that the profession is a
branch of the administration of justice and not a mere money making trade.
11. Controversies with clients concerning compensation are to
be avoided by the Advocate so far as shall be compatible with his self-respect
and with his right to receive reasonable recompense for his service. Any law
suits with clients should be resorted to only to prevent injustice, imposition
or fraud.
12. Nothing operates more certainly to create or foster
popular prejudice against Advocates as a class, and to deprive the profession
of that full measure of public esteem and confidence which belongs to the
proper discharge of its duties than done the false claim, often set up by the
unscrupulous in defence of questionable transactions, that it is the duty of
the Advocate to do whatever may enable him to succeed in winning his client's
cause.
It is improper for an Advocate to assert in argument his
personal belief in his client's innocence or in the justice of his cause. His
professional duty is strictly limited to making submissions at the Bar
consistently with the interest of his client.
An Advocate owes entire devotion to the interests of the
client, warm zeal in the maintenance and defence of his rights and the exertion
of his utmost learning and ability to the end that nothing be taken or be
withheld from him save by the rules of law, legally applied. No fear of
judicial disfavour or public unpopularity should restrain him from the full
discharge of his duty. In the judicial forum the client is entitled to the
benefit of any and every remedy and de-fence that is authorized by the law of
the land, and he may expect his advocate to assert every such remedy or
defence. But it is steadfastly to be borne in mind that the great trust of the
Advocate is to be discharged within and not without the bounds of the law. The
office of an Advocate does not permit, much less does it demand of him for any
client, the violation of any law or any manner of fraud or chicanery. In doing
his professional duty to his client he must obey the voice of his own
conscience and not that of his client.
13. When an Advocate is a witness for his client except as to
merely formal matters, such as the attestation or custody, of an instrument and
the like, he should leave the trial of the case to other Advocates. Except when
essential to the ends of justice, an Advocate should avoid testifying in court
on behalf of his client.
14. In incidental matters, not affecting the merits of the
cause in a trial, nor working substantial prejudice to the rights of the
client, such as forcing the opposing Advocate to trial when he is under
affliction or bereavement; forcing the trial on a particular day to the injury
of the opposing Advocate when no harm will result from a trial at a different
time, agreeing to an extension of time for filing written statements, cross
interrogatories and the like, the Advocate must be allowed to judge himself. In
such matters no client has a right to demand that his Advocate shall be
ungenerous or that he does anything therein repugnant to his own sense of
honour and propriety.
CHAPTER -III
DUTY
TO THE COURT
1. It is the duty of an Advocate to maintain towards the
courts a respectful attitude, not for the sake of the temporary incumbent of
the judicial office, but for the maintenance of its supreme importance. Judge
not being wholly free to defend themselves are peculiarly entitled to receive
the support of the Bar against unjust criticism and clamour. At the same time
whenever there is proper ground for complaint against a judicial officer, it is
the right and duty of an Ad-vocate to ventilate such grievances and seek
redress thereof legally and to protect the complainant and persons affected.
2. An Advocate shall not advise a person, whose testimony
could establish or tend to establish a material fact, to avoid service of
process, or conceal himself, or otherwise to make his testimony unavailable.
3. An Advocate shall not intentionally misquote to a judge,
judicial officer or jury the testimony of a witness, the argument of the
opposing Advocate or the contents of a document; nor shall he intentionally
misquote to a judge or judicial officer the language of a book, statute or
decision; nor shall he, with knowledge, of its invalidity and without
disclosing such knowledge, cite as authority a decision that has been overruled
or a statute that has been repealed or declared unconstitutional.
4. Marked attention and unusual hospitality on the part of an
Advocate to a judge or judicial officer not called for by the personal
relations of the parties, subject both the judge and the Advocate to
misconstructions of motive and should be avoided. An Advocate should not
communicate or argue privately with the judge as to the merits of a pending
cause and he deserves rebuke and denunciation for any device or attempt to gain
from a judge special consideration or favour. A self-respecting independence in
the discharge of professional duty, without denial or diminution of courtesy
and respect due to the Judge's station, is the only proper foundation for
cordial personal and official relations between the Bench and the Bar.
5. The primary duty of an Advocate engaged in public
prosecution is not to convict, but to see that the justice is done. The
suppression of facts or the concealing of witnesses capable of establishing the
innocence of the accused is highly reprehensible.
6. Publications in newspapers by an Advocate as to pending or
anticipated litigation may interfere with a fair trial in the courts and
otherwise prejudice the due administration of justice. Generally they are to be
condemned. If the extreme circumstances of a particular case justify a
statement or reference to the facts should not reach the public, it is
unprofessional to make them anonymously. An exparte reference to the facts
should not go beyond question from the records and papers on file in the Court
but even in extreme cases it is better to avoid any exparte statement.
7. It is the duty of Advocates to endeavour to prevent
political considerations from outweighing judicial fitness in the appointment
and selection of Judges. They should protest earnestly and actively against the
appointment or selection of persons who are unsuitable for the Bench and thus
should strive to have elevated thereto only those willing to forego other
employments whether of a business, political or other character, which may
embarrass their free and fair consideration of questions before them for
decision. The aspiration of Advocates for judicial position should be governed
by an impartial estimate of their ability to add honour to the office and not
by a desire for the distinction the position may bring to themselves.
8. It is the duty of Advocates to appear in court when a
matter is called and if it is not so possible, to make satisfactory alternative
arrangements.
9. An Advocate should in general refrain from volunteering
his legal opinion on or addressing any arguments in cases in which such
Advocate is not engaged unless called upon to do so in open court by a judge or
judicial officer. In advancing any such opinion, he must do so with a sense of
responsibility and impartiality without any regard to the interest of any
party.
CHAPTER IV
CONDUCT
WITH REGARD TO THE PUBLIC GENERALLY
1. An Advocate shall not accept employment to prosecute or
defend a case out of spite or for the purposing of harassing anyone or delaying
any matter nor shall he take or prosecute an appeal willfully motivated to
harass any one or delay any matter.
2. An Advocate should always treat adverse witnesses and
parties with fairness and due consideration, and he should never minister to
the malevolence or prejudices, of a client in the trial or conduct of a cause.
The client can not be made the keeper of the Advocate's conscience in
professional matters. He has no right to demand that his Advocate shall abuse
the opposite party or indulge in offensive arguments. Improper speech is not
excusable on the ground that it is what the client would say if speaking on his
own behalf.
3. An Advocate must decline to conduct a civil cause or to
make a defence when convinced that it is intended merely to harass or to injure
the opposite party or to work any oppression or wrong. But otherwise it is his
right, and having accepted a retainer, it becomes his duty to insist upon the
judgment of the court as to the legal merits of his client's claim. His
appearance in court should be deemed equivalent to an assertion on his honour
that in his opinion his client's case is one proper for judicial determination.
4. No Advocate is obliged to act either as adviser or
advocate for every person who may wish to become his client. He has right to
decline professional employment. Every Advocate upon his own responsibility
must decide what business he will accept as an Advocate, what causes he will
bring into court for plaintiffs, and what cases he will contest in court for
the defendants.
5. No client, corporate or individual, however powerful, nor
any cause, civil or political, however important, is entitled to receive, nor
should any Advocate render, any service or advice involving disloyalty to the
law, whose ministers Advocates are, or disrespect the judicial office, which
they are bound to uphold, or corruption of any person or, persons exercising
public office or private trust nor indulge in deception or betrayal of the
public. When rendering any such improper service or advice the Advocate invites
and merits stern and just condemnation. Correspondingly, he advances the honour
of his profession and the best interests of his client when he renders service
or gives advice tending to impress upon the client and undertaking exact
compliance with the strictest principles of moral law, though until a statute
shall have been finally construed and interpreted by competent adjudication, he
is free and indeed is entitled to advise as to its validity and as to what he
conscientiously believes to be its just meaning and extent. But above all an
Advocate will find his highest honour in a deserved reputation for fidelity to
private trust and to public duty as an honest man and as a patriotic and loyal
citizen.
6. An Advocate shall not communicate with, nor appear before,
a public officer, board, committee or body, in his professional capacity, without
first disclosing that he is an Advocate representing interests that may be
affected by the action of such officer, board, committee or body.
7. An Advocate should not accept employment as an Advocate in
any matter upon the merits of which he has previously acted in a judicial
capacity.
An Advocate having once held public office or having been in
the public employ, should not, after his retirement accept employment in
connection with any matter which he has investigated or dealt with while in
such office, nor employment except in support thereof.
8. An Advocate should not as a general rule carry on any
other profession or business, or be an active partner in or a salaried official
or servant in connection with any such profession or business.
Acknowledgment:-
1.Bangladesh Bar Council, Ramna, Dhaka.
2.Bar Council Rules and Conducts
Acknowledgment:-
1.Bangladesh Bar Council, Ramna, Dhaka.
2.Bar Council Rules and Conducts
