Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System Notes | LL.B. (3 years) Semester 1 | Mumbai University | munotes

Contents

Module I

1. What This Subject Is, and Why a Lawyer's Conduct Is Regulated by an Act of Parliament 1
2. Who May Be Admitted as an Advocate: Section 24 and Its Five Conditions 6
3. Disqualification for Enrolment: Section 24A and the Two-Year Rule 11
4. The Procedure of Enrolment: Application, Disposal, Certificate and the Roll 16
5. The All India Bar Examination: Bonnie Foi, and What Enrolment Alone Does Not Give You 21
6. What Enrolment Costs: Section 24(1)(f) and Gaurav Kumar 26
7. Advocate, Lawyer, Legal Practitioner and Pleader: The Words the Act Defines 31
8. Solicitor, Barrister, Attorney: The English Words, and What Survives of Them in India 35
9. Senior Counsel, Junior Counsel, Advocate-on-Record and Amicus Curiae 39
10. The Seven Lamps of Advocacy 44
11. Designation as Senior Advocate: Section 16, and Indira Jaising 49
12. The Bar Council of India: Constitution, Powers and Functions 58
13. The State Bar Council: Constitution, Powers and Functions 65
14. The Two Bar Councils Compared, and Who Answers to Whom 71
15. The Right to Practise: Sections 29 to 34 76
16. Is the Right to Practise a Fundamental Right, and May Advocates Strike? 81
17. Privileges of a Lawyer 86
18. Touts, and the Monopoly of the Bar: Section 45A 91
19. Salient Features of the Advocates Act 1961: The Act as a Whole 97

Module II

1. What Professional Ethics Means, and Where the Bar Council Gets the Power to Impose It 104
2. The Standards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette: How the Rules Are Arranged 109
3. Duty to the Court: Rules 1 to 10 113
4. Duty to the Client I: Accepting a Brief, Refusing One, and Withdrawing 119
5. Duty to the Client II: Conflict of Interest and the Duty of Confidence 125
6. Duty to the Client III: Fees, and What an Advocate May Not Charge 131
7. Duty to the Opponent: Rules 34 and 35 136
8. Duty to Colleagues, and the Rule Against Advertising: Rules 36 to 39 140
9. Duty to the Profession: Other Employment, Training and the Welfare Fund 146
10. Duty to the Public, the State and Society 153
11. Duty to Render Legal Aid: Rule 46, Article 39A and the Legal Services Authorities Act 158

Module III

1. What Professional Misconduct Is: Section 35 and the Words 'Or Otherwise' 164
2. Misconduct Towards the Client: Money, Papers and Changing Sides 170
3. Misconduct Towards the Court: Falsehood, Fabrication and Advising a Bribe 176
4. Misconduct Outside Professional Work, and Conduct That Is Not Misconduct 182
5. Punishment for Misconduct: The Four Orders Under Section 35(3) 187
6. The Disciplinary Committee of the State Bar Council: Organisation, Powers and Procedure 192
7. The Disciplinary Committee of the Bar Council of India: Organisation, Powers and Procedure 199
8. Transfer of Proceedings from the State Bar Council to the Bar Council of India 204
9. Remedies I: Appeal to the Bar Council of India Under Section 37 210
10. Remedies II: Appeal to the Supreme Court Under Section 38 215
11. Remedies III: Review Under Section 44, and Why a State Council's Review Needs Approval 220
12. Remedies IV: Revision Under Section 48A, Review Under Section 48AA, and Directions Under Section 48B 226
13. The Remedies Compared: Which Door, and When 231
14. Selected Opinions of the Disciplinary Committees of the Bar Councils 236
15. Major Judgments of the Supreme Court on Professional Misconduct 242
16. What the Supreme Court May Not Do: Supreme Court Bar Association and the Limits of Article 142 249

Module IV

1. What Contempt of Court Is, and Where the Power Comes From 255
2. Civil Contempt: Section 2(b) 261
3. Criminal Contempt: Section 2(c) and Its Three Limbs 266
4. What Is Not Contempt: Sections 3 to 9 and Section 13 272
5. Contempt of Subordinate Courts: Sections 10, 11 and Section 15(2) 279
6. Punishment for Contempt: Section 12 285
7. Contempt Procedure: Sections 14, 15, 17, 18 and 20 291
8. Appeals in Contempt: Section 19, and Sections 21 to 24 298
9. Contempt by an Advocate, and the Two Jurisdictions That Bite 303
10. Bar and Bench: What the Relationship Is, and Why It Matters 309
11. The Role of the Bar in Strengthening Bar-Bench Relations 315
12. Accountancy for Lawyers: Why a Lawyer Keeps Accounts at All 320
13. Basic Principles of Accounting: The Double Entry, and What an Account Is 325
14. The Books a Lawyer Keeps: Cash Book, Ledger, Journal and Trial Balance 330
15. Financial Statements: The Income Statement and the Balance Sheet 336
16. Client Money: Amount Due to the Client and Amount Due by the Client 342
17. Books of Account Under the Income-tax Act 2025, and the Penalty for Not Keeping Them 348
18. When an Accounting Failure Becomes Misconduct 354