“We take pride in being trial lawyers” – In Conversation with defence counsel, Uma Maheswara Rao

Sit in his office and you would be hard pressed to find anything that even remotely suggests that he is Hyderabad’s most sought after criminal lawyer. A lot ofUma Maheswara Rao’s answers end with a question, as if he wants to make sure you have understood what he has said..Ask him about any facing political pressures while having clients, such as Jagan Reddy or the Reddy mining barons, and he will shrug and tell you that a lawyer’s job starts and ends with the trial; determining a client’s guilt is the prerogative of the judge, not the lawyer..Uma Maheswara Rao is not an easy man to describe then, extremely humble but with this quiet confidence about him. Here is a man who has put in the hours, put in the hard work, and is now at the top of the league. The very top..The first lawyer in his family, Rao was a student of genetics and enrolled in Osmania University to prepare for the civil services examination. Law held little, if any, interest for him..I joined Law College because in Osmania University we used to get access to main library with six library cards, apart from our law college library. That was the only reason [to study law] and, unfortunately or fortunately, I did not get into civil service (pauses) Well at least now I can say fortunately..In 1985, armed with a law degree and determined to practice criminal law (“I thought my background in biology would help”), Rao joined the chambers of a public prosecutor who practiced in the Session court, one Rasheed Ahmed. Or rather, he was advised to join these chambers, and with good reason..The Court of Session is a trial court, a court with revisional jurisdiction, and appellate jurisdiction. And you have criminal miscellaneous petitions for bail etc. Every possible application that could be filed under the criminal code, can be filed in a court of sessions..Working in the office of the PP, Rao would have a ringside view of criminal proceedings. And what a view it was!.In those days, the Court of Sessions, were considered a superior court by trial lawyers. Conducting a session trial or arguing a criminal appeal was really considered to be a step for more experienced heads. The judges too were not only learned but were very polite. The atmosphere was not intimidating but was more like a classroom..Even though he got barely any chance to argue in court, what did work in his favour was being in the court of a sessions judge, Vidyasagar, who encouraged young lawyers by assigning them “State briefs” typically appeals filed in petty matters. Not only this, but judge Vidyasagar would sit on the bench throughout the day, dictating orders and judgments once the day’s trials had completed..And if the judge is on the bench, courtesy demands that the Public Prosecutor should also be in the court room too. So, sometimes, just three chairs would be occupied in the court – the judge, my senior public prosecutor and myself! I would say my academic experience began after the enrollment..With the encouragement of judges like Vidyasagar, Rao was able to get a few matters of his own; at the same time he knew that as long as he worked with the PP, he would never get the chance to argue in court. Nearly two years as a junior to the PP, Rao was ready for the next step, a step that would transform his life..At that time, one of the legends of the trial courts was a gentleman who went by the name of Sitapati. Known to not be an excellent lawyer but a sharp judge of character, Sitapati and Rao’s senior had obviously faced each other numerous times. Sitapati had noticed the young lawyer by the PP’s side and one day asked Rao to join his chambers. Rao could not have asked for more; in fact he had been contemplating ways to join Sitapati’s chambers himself!.Mr Sitapati used to get only those briefs which were rejected by the rest of the advocates. He would get those cases that others thought would only result in conviction or those briefs that no one wanted to spend too much time on. For such people he was the only answer..But it was not the kind of cases that defined Rao’s years at the criminal lawyer’s chambers. It was the way the office was run as well..His office was a role model how a professional legal practitioners office should work. Academic discussion, preparation of briefs, paying an allowance to juniors – I think my senior’s office was the benchmark..It certainly was the benchmark when it came to putting in the hours. Home was a place where one had a meal or two and slept, remembers Rao. Most of the day was spent either in court or in office. Sitapati would allocate certain courts to certain juniors; Rao was allocated matters in the special CBI court as well as matters from the Rangareddy District. It was hard work, but Rao says that it was this training that that allowed him to start his own independent practice..Ask him about how he managed to survive on a junior lawyer’s earnings, and Rao smiles, saying that Sitapati’s juniors would actually consider themselves to be rich..It wasn’t like a salary sort of system. When the client would pay the fees, from the very same notes he used to give us something, as if we both were sharing the fee. There is no employer-employee relationship in our profession. I think that is demeaning.. Prod him a bit more and Rao offers a slightly philosophical answer,.Perhaps it would have been very difficult for others to go through what I have gone through. I had a house to live, food to eat. I had nothing else to bother me. All the money that I could have earned in those days – I am receiving all that money at a later stage. And once you have chosen to do meaningful practice, you have to excel. This is the only way to learn..Learn he certainly did. Four years into the profession, Rao was pitted against one of the biggest lawyers of the country – Ashoke Kumar Sen. Rao’s senior had been hired in a high profile matter concerning the theft of hybrid seed technology. The opposite party, an American multinational, had engaged Sen, a renowned lawyer who had been a Cabinet Minister on seven occasions. The day before the hearing, Rao had been told that his senior may not appear; Rao would have to argue the matter himself..Which advocate will give the opportunity to his juniors to appear against a person who has been in the Cabinet under every Prime Minister. The presence of AK Sen did not intimidate me. After all, I had nothing to lose. I guess we were young and very arrogant. Anyway, I wish my senior had been held up but by the time my senior made it to court, Sen had not concluded his arguments..Although he did not get the chance to oppose AK Sen, Rao did gain a lot from that experience. He also managed to get some of his own work along the way, with the active encouragement of his senior..Clients are smart in the sense that if you deliver, they will give you briefs where they do not want your senior. And [Sitapati] was a man who would say ‘Yes you have got work! Do it on your own!’ That gave me the courage to become independent..The talk veers to Rao’s own practice, and this is where things begin to take a slightly different tone. It is when he talks about court craft, about the values that every lawyer ought to have, about trial court advocacy – it is then that you get to see the sharpness of thought, the quick crisp answers leaving little room for ambiguity..It will be the courts that will judge your client; we should concentrate on giving him a fair trail and the due process of law will decide whether he is guilty or not. You don’t try to collaborate with clients or befriend a client. Our job is to appear in the court and come back home. Nobody is bothered about you. At least nobody is bothered about me!.That is not Rao being modest. Despite being one of the top criminal lawyers in the state, Rao maintains an impossibly low profile. And his office is a reflection of a certain, brutally simple way of thinking. Located on the second storey of an old house, the office is certainly not plush. This is no coincidence..Why should I have an air-conditioner to make my clients comfortable? I deliberately maintain my office like this is because I want to send a message that you will be weighed on your performance not on the paraphernalia that you maintain. What you argue in court matters, not how plush your office is. People think I will deliver – that is why they come to me..It is this self-belief that is incredibly effective; perhaps the most interesting aspect of his personality. And along with this self-belief is a certain amount of pride, pride in advocacy in general and trial court work in particular..If one has the leisure to appear before the Supreme Court, he will not be surprised to hear somebody say, “He is from trial court.” They will dismiss a man as if he is not fit to appear in any court. For me, a court of law is a court of law whether it is first class magistrate’s court or the first court of the Supreme Court of India. In fact, we take pride in being trial lawyers. Trial lawyers can handle everything before an appellate court but the vice versa is not true..Even now, the tone and tenor remains unchanged, his voice remains friendly and conversational and it doesn’t take much of an imagination to see how persuasive he can be in court. When it comes to cross-examinations for instance, Rao is methodical in his approach, honing his skills over the years..“There are witnesses who have a tendency to lie for no reason at all. So you pick up the clinching evidence to show that the witness has no respect for the truth. After all, judges are also human beings. The only thing that is required to prove or disprove is whether the court can place reliance on this witness..That he still enjoys what he does is clear; in fact like a number of litigating lawyers, Rao is one of those who believes that a lawyer belongs in a court..We cannot sit in an air-conditioned cubicle. It is [part of the] profession no doubt and I respect that but someday you have to go out there and argue. Ultimately, you have to come back to the playing fields that are the courts.