The Bar Council of India (BCI) has finally come out with its much awaited, Draft Code of Ethics..The Bar Council of India (BCI) has finally come out with its much awaited, Draft Code of Ethics..The BCI Chairman Gopal Subramanium had recently in February at the Commonwealth Law Conference announced, that the Bar Council is proposing a new set of ethical norms for lawyers. Subramanium had stated that the new guidelines were simple and drawn mostly from South African principles and the Bar Council has decided to update and make the guidelines more realistic as they were not revisited since they were framed in 1962-63..The Draft Code of Ethics talks about the ‘Ethical Standards’ of an Advocate’s duty in connection with his ‘Briefs’, duty towards the ‘Court and duty to the ‘Client’. With ‘Client’ comes the duty of confidentiality and privilege, conflict of interest, remuneration and professional fee..The Draft Code further discusses an Advocates duty towards an opponent and colleague and describes the nuances of advertising in detail. The Code states that when imparting training, an Advocate cannot demand or accept fees or any premium and further enunciates that one must render legal aid as the highest obligation towards the society. In the end, the Code restricts an Advocate from other forms of employment..The BCI is at present, seeking suggestions / views on the Draft Code of Ethics..A copy of the Draft Code of Ethics is available here.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has finally come out with its much awaited, Draft Code of Ethics..The Bar Council of India (BCI) has finally come out with its much awaited, Draft Code of Ethics..The BCI Chairman Gopal Subramanium had recently in February at the Commonwealth Law Conference announced, that the Bar Council is proposing a new set of ethical norms for lawyers. Subramanium had stated that the new guidelines were simple and drawn mostly from South African principles and the Bar Council has decided to update and make the guidelines more realistic as they were not revisited since they were framed in 1962-63..The Draft Code of Ethics talks about the ‘Ethical Standards’ of an Advocate’s duty in connection with his ‘Briefs’, duty towards the ‘Court and duty to the ‘Client’. With ‘Client’ comes the duty of confidentiality and privilege, conflict of interest, remuneration and professional fee..The Draft Code further discusses an Advocates duty towards an opponent and colleague and describes the nuances of advertising in detail. The Code states that when imparting training, an Advocate cannot demand or accept fees or any premium and further enunciates that one must render legal aid as the highest obligation towards the society. In the end, the Code restricts an Advocate from other forms of employment..The BCI is at present, seeking suggestions / views on the Draft Code of Ethics..A copy of the Draft Code of Ethics is available here.
