Lawyer Should Not Be A Hired Gun Or Rubber Stamp Of Client : Justice BV Nagarathna

A lawyer should not be a "hired gun" or "rubber stamp" for the client, said Justice BV Nagarathna, Judge of the Supreme Court, while speaking at the convocation ceremony of the National Law University, Delhi on Saturday (September 13).

Reminding the law graduates that they must balance thier duty to the client with their duty to the Court, Justice Nagarathna said :

"Dear graduates, you must remember that your training at this premier institution is to make you more than a “hired gun” or a “legal mechanic”. You should not allow yourself to become a rubber stamp of your client. Chagla, C.J. in his autobiographical work Roses in December eruditely writes that a lawyer must represent a client in good faith, not mislead the court, and not withhold anything from the court that he is compelled to reveal. While a client would advance everything under the sun as presentable and arguable, it would impair the justice system to allow misconceived and inadmissible evidence and arguments to be wilfully advanced."

Justice Nagarathna also highlighted the following duties to the Court.

Act with dignity and respect:  Always maintain decorum in the courtroom. Your behavior should reflect the gravity and importance of the legal proceedings.

Uphold the integrity of the judicial system: Never engage in practices that could undermine the court's authority or the public's faith in the legal system. In your career, you will inevitably face ethical dilemmas that test your principles. You may find yourself torn between your duty to your client and your commitment to truth and justice. You may be torn between temptation and your duty to your client. You may encounter clients who make unethical requests or find yourself tempted to use purely legal technicalities to circumvent justice. In these situations, have the courage to stand firm in your ethical convictions.

You, as an Advocate, must endure to convince action groups and society of the vitality of constitutional methods. For the day Advocates view constitutional methods as electives and not their mandate is the day public confidence in law and community will shatter.

Constitutional Methods advocacy: You, as an Advocate, must endure to convince action groups and society of the vitality of constitutional methods. For the day Advocates view constitutional methods as electives and not their mandate is the day public confidence in law and community will shatter.

Prolix submissions: Frivolous petitions and intentionally prolix submissions or filibustering, shall I say, convert the Court into an exclusive regime of the 'other' that the citizen is not supposed to understand and only piles on pendency. Dear graduates, you have a responsibility to constructively establish before your client their rights and obligations and not engage in misuse of forums by instituting frivolous petitions and lengthy submissions. An advocate must never allow themselves to be used as masks for a busy-body merely to harass litigants or the State or deliberately approach wrong forums or protract litigation on the instruction of the client.

Linked to the responsibility to not misuse is the need to prepare and build your competency. Possibly, to impress clients, particularly corporates and clients who value prolixity, solicitors and advocates have taken to lengthy pleading losing sight of relevancy. Please shun such practices.

Duty towards the nation:

Justice Nagarathna also emphasised that the lawyers have a larger duty to the community and the nation extending beyond their clients and court rooms.

It is the primary duty and the highest responsibility of lawyers and Courts to be vigil to arbitrariness and maintain the confidence of the litigant public in the purity of the fountain of justice and thereby respect rule of law.

As officers of the court and constructive citizens your advice must not negatively impact rule of law, public interest or embolden criminals and cheats who pose.

"Prolonged pendency and misconduct by some members of the Bar has marred the reputation of the legal profession in public eye. I hope that as members of the Bar and as constructive citizens, your generation will redefine the goals of citizenship keeping the spirit of persuasion, of accommodation and of tolerance in sight and strive towards achieving them an obvious threat to society," she said in conclusion.

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The full text of the lecture can be read here.