UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & ENERGY STUDIES
COLLEGE OF LEGAL STUDIES
[Link]., LL.B.(Hons.)
SEMESTER - 9
ACADEMIC YEAR: 2020-21 SESSIONS: AUGUST-DECEMBER
ASSIGNMENT
FOR
Professional Ethics
ON
Comment on questions
Under the Supervision of:
Mr. Himanshu Dhandharia
Compiled by-
Name: Paritosh Garg
SAP ID: 500055096
Roll No: R129216066
Q.1 The advocate's act generally prohibits the enrolment of a person who, though he may
be otherwise qualified, is in full-time service or employment or engaged in any trade,
business, or occupation (except when he is a sleeping partner).
Answer.1 According to the rules of 47-49 of the Bar Council of India, says that an advocate
shall not personally engage in any kind of business, but he may be a sleeping partner in a firm
doing business provided that in the opinion of the appropriate state bar council, the nature of the
business is not inconsistent with the dignity of the profession.
It also says that an advocate may be a director pr chairman of the board of directors of a
company with or without any ordinary sitting fee, provided none of his duties is executive. An
advocate shall not be a Managing Director or a Secretary of any Company.
also, An advocate shall not be a full-time salaried employee of any person, government, firm,
corporation or concern, so long as he continues to practice, and shall, on taking up any such
employment, intimate the fact to the Bar Council on whose roll his name appears and shall
thereupon cease to practice as an advocate so long as he continues in such employment.
The legal profession is considered a noble profession and the nobility of this profession cannot
be preserved if a practicing lawyer indulges himself in any profession which is meant for a
common man. In other words, a practicing lawyer or an attorney stands on a higher footing than
any common man, so it is against the prestige and moral values of lawyers.
So, any person who is enrolled advocate to the Bar Council of India he cannot take part in the
above things otherwise he will violate the Professional ethics and hence it will be considered as
professional misconduct. If the officer is a whole-time employee drawing a regular salary then he
will not be entitled to be enrolled as an advocate, only if the terms and conditions of the
employment prove that he is not in full-time employment then he can be enrolled at Bar.
If anyone wants to do some business or take up a job, he can temporarily or
permanently surrender his enrollment to the Bar Council during the period he is in such a
business or profession.
There were many causes and a few of them are as follows:
Sushma Suri v. Govt of National Capital Territory of Delhi,1993
Satish Kumar v. Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh
Union of India v. Kewal Krishna Mittal
Akhilesh Kumar Mishra v. High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
Q.2 An advocate may edit legal books for a salary, coach people for legal examination and
subject to the rule against full-time employment, engage in journalism, lecturing, and
teaching subjects both legal and not legal.
Answer.2 Firstly, by answering the question of whether can an enrolled advocate engages in
journalism, lecturing, and teaching subjects both legal and no legal, according to rule 5 permits
the lecturing and teaching subjects, both legal and non-legal. However, the right is subject to the
advocates (Right to take up law teaching) rules,1979. So according to rule 3 of the said rules, an
advocate may, while practicing take up the teaching of law in any educational institution which
is affiliated to a university within the meaning of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956,
so long as the hours during which he is so engaged in the teaching of law do not exceed three
hours in a day.
When an advocate is employed in any such educational institution for the teaching of law, such
employment shall, of the hours during which he is so engaged in teaching do not exceed three
hours for purpose of act and rules made thereunder to be part-time employment irrespective of
how such employment is described it the remuneration receivable by the advocate for such
employment.
The Bar council of Gujrat on 21st June passed a resolution lifting the bar on practicing advocates
allowing them to undertake any other business or profession till 31 st December 2020 in the wake
of COVID-19 19 induced lockdown where many advocates have been out of practice due to the
limited functioning of the courts. However, they directed the advocates to engage themselves in
such professions that maintain the dignity of an advocate.
In the case of Hansraj L Chulani v. Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa, said that while dealing
with the restrictions on other employments of practicing lawyers has observed that the legal
profession requires full-time attention and would not countenance an advocate riding two horses
or more at a time.
In the case of Jalpa Pradeepbhai Desai Vs Bar Council of India where a lawyer who worked as a
full-time consultant with a public sector undertaking and had been unsuccessfully trying to get
enrolled with the Gujarat Bar Council held that “Considering the nature of service contract of the
petitioner with the Corporation, there is no gainsaying that she incurs debility in terms of Rule 49
as her employment could be characterized as full-time salaried employment. As a result, refusal
by the respondents to grant the petitioner enrolment and the certificate to practice law could be
said to be eminently proper and legal.”
Important Case: Satish Kumar v. Bar Council of HP (2001