Advocacy is a noble and honourable profession.

An advocate must strictly comply with

professional ethics or else he may be liable for professional misconduct.

The term ‘Professional Misconduct’ in the simple sense means improper conduct. In legal sense
it means an act done willfully with a wrong intention by the people engaged in the profession. It
means any activity or behavior of an advocate in violation of professional ethics for his selfish
ends. If an act results in dispute to his profession and make him unfit of being in the profession,
it amounts to ‘Professional Misconduct’. In other words, it is an act which disqualifies an
advocate to continue in legal profession.

Professional misconduct may consist –

 in betraying the confidence of a client

 in attempting by means to practice fraud
 to deceive the Court or adverse party or his Counsel

In State of Punjab v. Ram Singh[1], The Supreme Court held that the term ‘misconduct’ may
involve –

 moral turpitude
 improper or wrongful behavior
 unlawful behavior
 willful in character
 a forbidden act
 transgression
 carelessness or negligence in performance of duty
 or the act complained of bears forbidden quality or character

Chapter -V of the Advocates Act of 1961 deals with conduct of Advocates it describes provision
relating to punishment for professional and other misconducts. Section 35(1) of the Advocates
Act, 1961 provides for referring any complaint to disciplinary committee for disposal.
Though the act as well as Bar Council are silent in providing the exact definition of professional
misconduct, through punishments are provided on acts of omission and commission by any
member of the profession.

In Shambhu Ram Yadav v. Hanuman Das Khatry[2], the Supreme Court made it clear that
writing a letter to his client to send money to bribe the Judge is a serious misconduct. It also held
that legal profession is not a trade or business.

Misconduct of an Advocate may be explained with reference to the following –

1. Dereliction of Duty

Dereliction of Duty means handing over brief to another advocate and such transfer is considered
as unprofessional but if he does so with the consent of his client, it is not improper.
 Case: V.C Ranga Durai v. D Gopalan[3]

The Supreme Court in this case held that a lawyer entrusted with a brief must follow the norms
of professional ethics and must protect the interests of his clients.

2. Professional Negligence

An advocate is expected to exercise reasonable skill and prudence and should not be negligent.
In order to constitute misconduct, the negligence must be accompanied by –

 suppression of truth or
 deliberate misrepresentation of facts

Case: Mohd. Ismail v. Balarathna[4]

It was held that it amounts to misconduct if an advocate neglects to furnish requisite documents
or material papers despite of repeated adjournments.

Case: N.G Dastane v. Shrikant S. Shivde[5]

The Supreme Court has made it clear that seeking repeated adjournments for postponing
examination of witnesses present in the Court amounts to misconduct and an advocate may be
punished.

3. Misappropriation

When an advocate collects money from his clients for court purposes and misuses it is called as
misappropriation which amounts to professional misconduct.

Case: D.S Dalal v. State Bank of India[6]

In this case there was a complaint against an advocate that he misappropriated the amount paid to
him towards the filing of suit and professional fees. The advocate pleaded that the suit papers
were misplaced by the High Court Registry. It was duly established that the suit papers were
returned to the advocate for removing objections but the advocate did not refile the suit for a
long time. The Disciplinary Committee found him guilty of misappropriation of money paid to
him by his client and therefore, punished him for professional misconduct.

Case: L.C Goyal v. Suresh Joshi[7]

In this case the advocate misappropriated the money received as court-fee.

He was held guilty of professional misconduct.

4. Contempt of Court and Improper behavior before Magistrate

An advocate must respect the court and maintain the dignity. Making of false allegations against
the judicial officers amounts to gross misconduct.

5. Furnishing false information

Furnishing false information amounts to ‘professional misconduct’.

Case: Emperor v. K.C.B A Pleader[8]

In this case certain tins of ghee were seized by Municipal authorities on being adulterated and
kept under the custody of a Marwari. The advocate falsely told the Marwari that the Sub-
Divisional Office had ordered that the tins to be handed over the owner.
The advocate was held guilty of misconduct.

6. Appearing for both the sides

An advocate is under a duty to do his best to protect the interest of his clients. He must not
represent conflicting interest.

7. Giving Improper Advice

Advocacy being a noble profession, an advocate must give his clients the benefit of his learning,
talent and judgment. An advocate must give his proper advice if he is unable to take up the brief
he should advice the client to consult another counsel but should not give improper advice.
Improper advice amounts to misconduct.

Conclusion

Legal Profession is an epochal in its nature. Bar Council of India plays a vital role in enacting
pandect. It must regularly monitor and accordingly bring about amendments in professional
ethics with changing the aura of the society.

[1] AIR 1992 SC 2188

[2] AIR 2001 SC 2509

[3] AIR 1979 SC 281

[4] AIR 1965 Mys. 28

[5] AIR 2001 SC 2028

[6] AIR 1993 SC 1608

[7] AIR 1999 SC 2222

[8] AIR 1935 Cal. 547

Conclusion
The role of the lawyers in the society is of great importance. They being part of the
system of delivering justice holds great reverence and respect in the society. Each
individual has a well defined code of conduct which needs to be followed by the person
living in the society. A lawyer in discharging his professional assignment has a duty to
his client, a duty to his opponent, a duty to the court, a duty to the society at large and a
duty to himself. It needs a high degree of probity and poise to strike a balance and
arrive at the place of righteous stand, more so, when there are conflicting claims. While
discharging duty to the court, a lawyer should never knowingly be a party to any
deception, design or fraud. While placing the law before the court a lawyer is at liberty to
put forth a proposition and canvass the same to the best of his wits and ability so as to
persuade an exposition which would serve the interest of his client and the society.

The advocate, as an officer of the Court, also has the responsibility to render services of sound quality. Lapses in services in the nature of
absence when the matters are called out, the filing of incomplete and inaccurate pleadings – many times even illegible and without personal
check and verification, the non-payment of court fees and process fees, the failure to remove office objections, the failure to take steps to
serve the parties are not merely professional omission. They amount to positive dis-service to the litigants and create embarrassing situation
in the court leading to avoidable unpleasantness and delay in the disposal of matters, and detrimentally affects the entire judicial system.

Furthermore, as the officers of the court the lawyers are required to uphold the dignity of the judicial office and maintain a respectful attitude
towards the Court. This is because the Bar and the Bench form a noble and dynamic partnership geared to the great social goal of
administration of justice, and the mutual respect of the Bar and the Bench is essential for maintaining cordial relations between the two. It is
the duty of an advocate to uphold the dignity and decorum of the Court and must not do anything to bring the Court itself into disrepute, and
ensure that at no point of time, he oversteps the limits of propriety.

From the analysis of various cases and certain facts and circumstances, it will be clear that unlike
any other profession, advocacy is regarded as a noble profession and professional ethics must be
maintained. Courts have dealt with various cases of professional misconduct wherein attempt of
murder by the advocate towards his client have also been reported. Hence, there must be
interference from concerned authorities so that persons with a criminal background are kept
away from this profession. Even though there are guidelines dealing with the social background
of the person enrolling in this profession, i.e. the person enrolling must be free from any criminal
cases, it does not prove that the person has a criminal nature of his own. So Bar Council can
implement certain rules and regulation so that the conduct of the person who is showing criminal
behaviour can be controlled strict guidelines ensuring that the person no longer acts unlawfully
against his profession. There must be various career guidance and development programs
conducted by the Bar Council immediately after enrolment so that new legal professionals they
will be aware of the do’s and don’t of this profession and there will be a better group of
advocates in the coming decades.
Intro-
The term has been clearly defined in Black’s Dictionary as, the transgression of some established and
definite rule of action, a forbidden act, a dereliction of duty, unlawful behavior, improper or wrong
behavior. Its synonyms are a misdemeanour, impropriety, mismanagement, offense, but not
negligence or carelessness. From the definition, it is now clear that the act of professional misconduct
is done purely with an intention of getting unlawful gains. The Advocates Act, 1961 and the Indian Bar
Council play a vital role in providing rules and guidelines regarding the working, code of conduct and
such other matters concerning lawyers and advocates in India.

The provisions of Section 35 of the Advocates Act deal with professional misconduct of lawyers
and advocates in India, which read as:

A person is found guilty of professional misconduct; it shall refer the case to a disciplinary
committee, shall fix a date of hearing and issue a show cause notice to the Advocate and the
Advocate General of the State. The disciplinary committee of the State Bar Council, after being
heard of both the parties, may:

Dismiss the complaint, or where the proceedings were initiated at the instance of the State Bar
Council, directs that proceedings be filed;

Reprimand the advocate;

Suspend the advocate from practice for such a period as it deems fit;

Remove the name of an advocate from the state roll of advocates.

Some of the instances of professional misconduct are as follows:

 Dereliction of duty
 Professional negligence
 Misappropriation
 Changing sides
 Contempt of court and improper behavior before a Magistrate
 Furnishing false information
 Giving improper advice
 Misleading the clients in court
 Not speaking the truth
 Disowning allegiance to the court
 Moving application without informing that a similar application has been rejected by
another authority
 Suggesting to bribe the court officials
 Forcing the prosecution witness not to say the truth

Section 35 punishment of advocate misconduct-