The Standards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette: How the Rules Are Arranged

Section IV-A carries no heading in the print. It appears in the text as "Section IV-A" with a footnote and then runs straight into rule 40. It is about the welfare fund and not about colleagues, despite following Section IV.

Section II is by far the largest. Twenty-three of the fifty-two rules concern the client, which reflects where the disciplinary cases actually come from, as Module III shows.

The renumbering of 1984, which is why old notes misquote

The print carries a footnote against Section IV-A: "Section 4A: Revised rules came into effect from 1-4-1984 (Rules 47 to 54 re-numbered as 45 to 52)."

So the rules now numbered 45 to 52 were, before 1 April 1984, numbered 47 to 54. That is why a book or a website written from an older source will cite, for example, rule 47 for the duty to render legal aid when the current number for that duty is rule 46, or rule 49 for something now numbered differently.

Always cite the current number, and if a source gives a number in the forties or fifties that does not match the current text, suspect the renumbering rather than your own memory.

How MU's six duties map onto the Sections

MU's topic 2.2 lists six duties. The Bar Council has seven Sections and they are not the same six, and an honest answer says so. This table is the reconciliation the rest of Module II follows.

Two of MU's six headings are MU's own groupings. That is not a criticism of the syllabus; it is how most textbooks arrange the material. But a student should know that if a question asks for "the duty to the profession" there is no numbered Section of that name, and should answer by naming the rules that carry it.

The rules are not the only source

Three other things bear on conduct and are dealt with elsewhere in this book, so that a student does not look for them in Chapter II and conclude they do not exist.

Part VI Chapter III deals with conditions for the right to practise, and Part VII with disciplinary proceedings and review, which is the procedure taught in Module III.

The Advocates Act itself contains duties in substance: section 35 creates the offence, and sections 16(3), 30 and 33 shape what an advocate may do.

The court's own rules under section 34(1) can add conditions of practice, as Pravin C. Shah v. K.A. Mohd. Ali, AIR 2001 SC 3041, shows.

A worked example

A problem says: an advocate accepted a brief for the plaintiff, then agreed to appear for the defendant in the same suit for a higher fee, took an interest in the property in dispute, and put his photograph in a newspaper report about the case.

The map turns that into four citations without any further reasoning.

• Appearing for the other side after being engaged: rule 33, Section II, duty to the client. Confirmed in Chandra Shekhar Soni v. Bar Council of Rajasthan, AIR 1983 SC 1012, where the Supreme Court held that accepting the brief of the other side while retained by one party is clearly contrary to rule 33.
• Taking an interest in the property in dispute: rules 22 and 22A, Section II.
• Acting where he is pecuniarily interested: rule 9, Section I, because the duty engaged is to the court.
• The photograph: rule 36, Section IV, which forbids producing his photographs to be published in connection with cases in which he has been engaged.

Note what the map did. It told you that the property point and the changing-sides point are duties to the client, while the pecuniary-interest point is a duty to the court, which is why they are in different Sections although they look alike.

What beginners get wrong

There are 52 rules, not 49 or 54. Section VII ends at rule 52.

Rule 46 is the legal aid rule. Not 46A, and not rule 47.

Section IV-A is about the welfare fund, not about colleagues.

"Duty to the profession" is not a Section heading. Neither is "duty to public, state and society".

Chapter II is not the whole of the Bar Council of India Rules. Parts V to IX run to over a hundred pages, and the disciplinary procedure is in Part VII.

Quick revision

• Part VI Chapter II, "Standards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette", made under section 49(1)(c) read with its proviso.
• Section I, duty to the court, rules 1 to 10.
• Section II, duty to the client, rules 11 to 33, including client accounts, rules 25 to 32.
• Section III, duty to opponent, rules 34 and 35.
• Section IV, duty to colleagues, rules 36 to 39; rule 36 is the advertising rule with its Schedule for websites.
• Section IV-A, the Advocates Welfare Fund, rules 40 to 44B.
• Section V, duty in imparting training, rule 45.
• Section VI, duty to render legal aid, rule 46.
• Section VII, restriction on other employments, rules 47 to 52.
• Rules 47 to 54 were renumbered 45 to 52 with effect from 1 April 1984. Older sources cite numbers that no longer exist.
• MU's "duty to the profession" and "duty to public, state and society" are not Bar Council headings.

Test yourself

1. Which rules make up the duty to the court, and which the duty to the client? Rules 1 to 10, in Section I, are the duty to the court. Rules 11 to 33, in Section II, are the duty to the client.

2. Where is the rule against advertising, and in which Section? Rule 36, in Section IV, the duty to colleagues. It carries a Schedule added in 2008 setting out what an advocate's website may contain.

3. What happened to the numbering of the rules in 1984? Revised rules came into effect from 1 April 1984, by which rules 47 to 54 were renumbered as 45 to 52. Sources written before that date cite numbers that do not correspond to the present text.

4. MU lists a "duty to the profession". Where is it in the Bar Council rules? There is no Section of that name. The duty is carried by Section VII, rules 47 to 52 on other employment, Section V, rule 45 on training, and Section IV-A, rules 40 to 44B on the Advocates Welfare Fund.

5. Which Section deals with the Advocates Welfare Fund, and why is its position misleading? Section IV-A, rules 40 to 44B. It follows Section IV on the duty to colleagues and carries no heading of its own in the print, so it is easily read as part of that duty when its subject is the welfare fund.

6. An advocate acts in a matter in which he is himself a creditor of the bankrupt. Which rule, and which duty? Rule 9, in Section I, so it is a breach of the duty to the court rather than to the client. The rule's own illustration is that an advocate should not act in a bankruptcy petition when he is himself a creditor of the bankrupt.