CANONS OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETIQUETTE
WHEREAS the Rule of law is an essential feature of a civilised society and a pre-condition for realizing the idea of 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 all times, without fear or favour, the rights of citizen;
AND WHEREAS by their efforts advocates are expected to contribute significantly towards the creation and maintenance of condition in which a government established by law can function fruitfully so as to assure 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, with the Courts and the members of the public generally;
AND WHEREAS the Pakistan Bar Council has formulated such norms of correct conduct into a set of Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette.
NOW the Pakistan Bar Council does hereby approve and adopt the Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette, set out hereunder and urges all advocates to conform to these Canons in their conduct with regard to the members of the Profession, their clients, the Court and the public generally.
CHAPTER 1
CONDUCT WITH REGARD TO OTHER ADVOCATES
(1) It is the duty of every Advocate at all time to uphold the dignity and high standing of his profession as well as his own dignity and high standing as a member of it.
(2) An Advocate shall not solicit professional employment by advertisement or by any other means, This clause shall not be construed to prohibit 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 savors of personal advertisement.
(3) An Advocate shall not employ another person to solicit or obtain or remunerate another for soliciting or obtaining professional employment for him; nor shall he share with an unlicensed person compensation arising out of or incidental to professional employment, not shall he and or abet an unlicensed person to practice law or to receive compensation therefore nor shall he knowingly accept professional employment offered to him as a result of or incidental to the activities of an unlicensed person.
(4) An Advocate shall not communicate with a party represented by an advocate upon a subject of controversy in the absence and without consent of such Advocate.
(5) An Advocate shall not in the absence of opposing counsel communicate with or argue before a Judge or judicial officer except in open Court upon the merits of a contested matter pending before such Judge or officer; nor shall he, without furnishing opposing Advocate with a copy thereof, address a written communication 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 expert matters or in respect of matters not sub judice before the Judge or judicial officer concerned.
(6) A client’s proffer assistance of additional Advocate should not be regarded as absence 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-felling existing between client it should not be allowed to influence Advocates in their conduct and demeanour towards each other or towards parties in the case, all personal clashes between Advocates should be scrupulously avoided. In the trial of a case it is indecent of allude to the personal history or the personal! Peculiarities and idiosyncracies 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 fee 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 Advocates 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 member who also are expected to be not only courteous but also helpful to their junior and younger brethren at the Bar.
(11) Where more then one Advocate are engaged on any side it is right of the senior member to lead the case and the junior members are 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 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 interest.
(5) An Advocate shall not himself or in benami purchase any 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, nor as 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 and other property belonging to such client.
(7) An Advocate shall not advise the commencement of prosecution or defence of a case unless he has been consulted in reference there to except when his relation to a party or the subject matter is such as to make it proper for him to do so.
(8) An Advocate in his professional capacity shall not advice 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 the Advocate to undertake the defence of a person accused of a 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, the 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, Advocate should avoid charge, which over estimate 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 poverty may require a less charge or even none at all. The reasonable request of a brother Advocate, should also receive special and kindly consideration. In respect of their widows and orphans, all Advocates shall assist them free of charge.
In determining the amount of fees, it is proper to consider the time and labour required, the novelty and differently of the questions involved and the skill requisite properly to conduct the case; whether the acceptance of employment in the particular case will preclude the Advocate’s appearance for others in cases likely to arise out of the transaction. And in which there is a reasonable expection that otherwise he would be employed; or will involve the loss of other business while employed, in the particular case; the customary charge of the Bar for similar service; the amount involved in the controversy and the benefits resulting to the client from service; the contingency or the certainty of the compensation; and the character of the employment, whether casual or an established and constant client. Of these considerations none in itself is the controlling factor. They are mere guides 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 services, any lawsuits with clients should be resorted to only to prevent injustice, imposition or fraud.
(12) Nothing operates more certainly to create or to foster popular prejudice against advocates as a class and to deprive the profession of that full measure of public esteem and confidence which belong to the proper discharge of its duties then does 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 interest of his client.
The Advocate owes entire devotion to the interest 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 rule of law, legally applied no fear of judicial disfavor or public unpopularity should restrain him from the full discharge of his duty, in the judicial from the client is entitled to the benefit of any and every remedy and defence that is authorized by the law, 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 discharge within and not without the bounds of the law, the office of 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 this client except as to merely formal matters, such as the attestation or custody of an instrument and the like, he should leave the trail of the case to the other Advocates, Except when essential to the ends of justice, an Advocates should avoid testifying in Court on behalf of his client.
(14) In incidental matters, not a affecting the merits of the cause in a trial, nor working substantial prejudice to the rights of the clients, such as forcing the opposite Advocate to trail when he is under affliction or bereavement forcing the trail on a particular day to the injury of the opposite Advocate when no harm will result form a trail at a different time, agreeing to an extension of time for filing written statement, cross interrogatories and the like, the Advocate must be allowed to judge himself. In such matters no clients has a right to demand that his Advocate shall be ungenerous or that he does anything they’re in 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 Court a respectful attitude, not for the sake of the temporary incumbent of the judicial office, but for the maintenance of its supreme importance. Judges, 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 a proper ground for complaint against a judicial officer, it is the right and duty of an Advocate to ventilate such grievances and seek redress thereof legally and to protect complainant and person affected.
(2) An Advocate shall not advise a person whose testimony could establish or tend to establish a material face, to avoid service of process, or conceal himself or otherwise to make his testimony unavailable.
(3) An Advocate shall not intentionally misquote to a 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 judicial officer the language of a book, statute or decision; nor shall he, with knowledge, of its invalidity and without disclosing such knowledge, cite an 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 uncalled for by the personal relations of the parties, subject both the judge and the Advocate to misconstruction 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 advice or attempt to again from a judge special consideration or favor, A self respecting independence in the discharge of professional duty, without denial or diminution of the 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 prosecutions is not to convict, but to see that justice is done. The suppression of the concealing of witnesses capable of establishing the innocence of the accused is highly reprehensible.
(6) Newspaper publications by an Advocate as to pending on 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 it anonymously. An ex parte reference to the facts should not go beyond quotation from the records and papers on file in the Court but even in extreme cases it is batter to avoid any ex parte statement.
(7) It is the duty of Advocates to Endeavour to prevent political consideration form outweighing judicial fitness in the appointment and selection of Judges. They should protest earnestly and actively against the appointment or selection of those who are unsuitable for the Bench and thus should strive to have elevated there to 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 reframe from volunteering his legal opinion on or addressing, any argument in cases in which such Advocate is not engaged unless called upon to do so in open Court by a Judge or Judicial officer. While 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) A member of the Bar shall not accept employment to prosecute or defend a case out of spite or for the purposes of harassing or delaying another; nor shall he take or prosecute an appeal willfully motivated to harass 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 of prejudices of a client in the trail or conduct of a case. The client cannot be made the keeper of the Advocate’s conscience in professional matter. 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 in his own behalf.
(3) The Advocate must decline to conduct a civil case 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 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 proper for judicial determination.
(4) No Advocate is obliged to act either as adviser or Advocate for every person who may wish to became his client. He has the right to decline professional employment. Every Advocate upon his own responsibility must decide what business he will accept as an Advocate, what cases he will bring into Court for plaintiffs, and what cases he will contest in Court for defendants.
(5) No client’s corporate or individual, however powerful nor any case, 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 they are, or disrespect the judicial officer, which they are bound to uphold, or corruption of any person or person exercising a 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 his undertaking exact compliance with the strictest principles of moral law. He must also observe and advise his client to observe the status law, though until a statute shall have been finally construed and interpreted by competed 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, or appear before a public officer, board, committee or body, in his professional capacity, without first disclosing that he is an Advocate representing interest that may be affected by 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 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 officer or 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.
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WHEREAS the Rule of law is an essential feature of a civilised society and a pre-condition for realizing the idea of 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 all times, without fear or favour, the rights of citizen;
AND WHEREAS by their efforts advocates are expected to contribute significantly towards the creation and maintenance of condition in which a government established by law can function fruitfully so as to assure 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, with the Courts and the members of the public generally;
AND WHEREAS the Pakistan Bar Council has formulated such norms of correct conduct into a set of Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette.
NOW the Pakistan Bar Council does hereby approve and adopt the Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette, set out hereunder and urges all advocates to conform to these Canons in their conduct with regard to the members of the Profession, their clients, the Court and the public generally.
CHAPTER 1
CONDUCT WITH REGARD TO OTHER ADVOCATES
(1) It is the duty of every Advocate at all time to uphold the dignity and high standing of his profession as well as his own dignity and high standing as a member of it.
(2) An Advocate shall not solicit professional employment by advertisement or by any other means, This clause shall not be construed to prohibit 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 savors of personal advertisement.
(3) An Advocate shall not employ another person to solicit or obtain or remunerate another for soliciting or obtaining professional employment for him; nor shall he share with an unlicensed person compensation arising out of or incidental to professional employment, not shall he and or abet an unlicensed person to practice law or to receive compensation therefore nor shall he knowingly accept professional employment offered to him as a result of or incidental to the activities of an unlicensed person.
(4) An Advocate shall not communicate with a party represented by an advocate upon a subject of controversy in the absence and without consent of such Advocate.
(5) An Advocate shall not in the absence of opposing counsel communicate with or argue before a Judge or judicial officer except in open Court upon the merits of a contested matter pending before such Judge or officer; nor shall he, without furnishing opposing Advocate with a copy thereof, address a written communication 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 expert matters or in respect of matters not sub judice before the Judge or judicial officer concerned.
(6) A client’s proffer assistance of additional Advocate should not be regarded as absence 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-felling existing between client it should not be allowed to influence Advocates in their conduct and demeanour towards each other or towards parties in the case, all personal clashes between Advocates should be scrupulously avoided. In the trial of a case it is indecent of allude to the personal history or the personal! Peculiarities and idiosyncracies 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 fee 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 Advocates 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 member who also are expected to be not only courteous but also helpful to their junior and younger brethren at the Bar.
(11) Where more then one Advocate are engaged on any side it is right of the senior member to lead the case and the junior members are 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 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 interest.
(5) An Advocate shall not himself or in benami purchase any 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, nor as 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 and other property belonging to such client.
(7) An Advocate shall not advise the commencement of prosecution or defence of a case unless he has been consulted in reference there to except when his relation to a party or the subject matter is such as to make it proper for him to do so.
(8) An Advocate in his professional capacity shall not advice 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 the Advocate to undertake the defence of a person accused of a 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, the 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, Advocate should avoid charge, which over estimate 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 poverty may require a less charge or even none at all. The reasonable request of a brother Advocate, should also receive special and kindly consideration. In respect of their widows and orphans, all Advocates shall assist them free of charge.
In determining the amount of fees, it is proper to consider the time and labour required, the novelty and differently of the questions involved and the skill requisite properly to conduct the case; whether the acceptance of employment in the particular case will preclude the Advocate’s appearance for others in cases likely to arise out of the transaction. And in which there is a reasonable expection that otherwise he would be employed; or will involve the loss of other business while employed, in the particular case; the customary charge of the Bar for similar service; the amount involved in the controversy and the benefits resulting to the client from service; the contingency or the certainty of the compensation; and the character of the employment, whether casual or an established and constant client. Of these considerations none in itself is the controlling factor. They are mere guides 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 services, any lawsuits with clients should be resorted to only to prevent injustice, imposition or fraud.
(12) Nothing operates more certainly to create or to foster popular prejudice against advocates as a class and to deprive the profession of that full measure of public esteem and confidence which belong to the proper discharge of its duties then does 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 interest of his client.
The Advocate owes entire devotion to the interest 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 rule of law, legally applied no fear of judicial disfavor or public unpopularity should restrain him from the full discharge of his duty, in the judicial from the client is entitled to the benefit of any and every remedy and defence that is authorized by the law, 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 discharge within and not without the bounds of the law, the office of 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 this client except as to merely formal matters, such as the attestation or custody of an instrument and the like, he should leave the trail of the case to the other Advocates, Except when essential to the ends of justice, an Advocates should avoid testifying in Court on behalf of his client.
(14) In incidental matters, not a affecting the merits of the cause in a trial, nor working substantial prejudice to the rights of the clients, such as forcing the opposite Advocate to trail when he is under affliction or bereavement forcing the trail on a particular day to the injury of the opposite Advocate when no harm will result form a trail at a different time, agreeing to an extension of time for filing written statement, cross interrogatories and the like, the Advocate must be allowed to judge himself. In such matters no clients has a right to demand that his Advocate shall be ungenerous or that he does anything they’re in 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 Court a respectful attitude, not for the sake of the temporary incumbent of the judicial office, but for the maintenance of its supreme importance. Judges, 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 a proper ground for complaint against a judicial officer, it is the right and duty of an Advocate to ventilate such grievances and seek redress thereof legally and to protect complainant and person affected.
(2) An Advocate shall not advise a person whose testimony could establish or tend to establish a material face, to avoid service of process, or conceal himself or otherwise to make his testimony unavailable.
(3) An Advocate shall not intentionally misquote to a 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 judicial officer the language of a book, statute or decision; nor shall he, with knowledge, of its invalidity and without disclosing such knowledge, cite an 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 uncalled for by the personal relations of the parties, subject both the judge and the Advocate to misconstruction 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 advice or attempt to again from a judge special consideration or favor, A self respecting independence in the discharge of professional duty, without denial or diminution of the 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 prosecutions is not to convict, but to see that justice is done. The suppression of the concealing of witnesses capable of establishing the innocence of the accused is highly reprehensible.
(6) Newspaper publications by an Advocate as to pending on 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 it anonymously. An ex parte reference to the facts should not go beyond quotation from the records and papers on file in the Court but even in extreme cases it is batter to avoid any ex parte statement.
(7) It is the duty of Advocates to Endeavour to prevent political consideration form outweighing judicial fitness in the appointment and selection of Judges. They should protest earnestly and actively against the appointment or selection of those who are unsuitable for the Bench and thus should strive to have elevated there to 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 reframe from volunteering his legal opinion on or addressing, any argument in cases in which such Advocate is not engaged unless called upon to do so in open Court by a Judge or Judicial officer. While 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) A member of the Bar shall not accept employment to prosecute or defend a case out of spite or for the purposes of harassing or delaying another; nor shall he take or prosecute an appeal willfully motivated to harass 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 of prejudices of a client in the trail or conduct of a case. The client cannot be made the keeper of the Advocate’s conscience in professional matter. 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 in his own behalf.
(3) The Advocate must decline to conduct a civil case 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 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 proper for judicial determination.
(4) No Advocate is obliged to act either as adviser or Advocate for every person who may wish to became his client. He has the right to decline professional employment. Every Advocate upon his own responsibility must decide what business he will accept as an Advocate, what cases he will bring into Court for plaintiffs, and what cases he will contest in Court for defendants.
(5) No client’s corporate or individual, however powerful nor any case, 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 they are, or disrespect the judicial officer, which they are bound to uphold, or corruption of any person or person exercising a 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 his undertaking exact compliance with the strictest principles of moral law. He must also observe and advise his client to observe the status law, though until a statute shall have been finally construed and interpreted by competed 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, or appear before a public officer, board, committee or body, in his professional capacity, without first disclosing that he is an Advocate representing interest that may be affected by 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 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 officer or 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.
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