View offer of judgeship seriously; it is a privilege: Justice Gautam Patel to Lawyers

Lawyers who are extended the offer to be judges should view such offers seriously since such an offer is itself a privilege, Bombay High Court judge Justice Gautam Patel said on Monday..The judge, who is demitting office on April 25, was given a farewell by the Advocates Association of Western India today.In his short speech, he suggested that lawyers who are offered judgeship should consider the same seriously despite all the variable elements. “When you are asked to take judgeship, please view the offer seriously. It is something to be seriously considered for two reasons. I know it has some variable elements to it; the money is an issue. But barring that, people talk about being isolated or cut off; that is not actually true. We just have to be a little careful about it. You tend to override personal and family concerns and that is not a good thing,” Justice Patel said..He emphasized that such offers are worth accepting only for the reason that not everyone is offered the position.“It is worth doing because not everybody gets asked. Merely being asked is a privilege. You don't become a judge, because you are going to write great judgments, or you are going to change the world, the society. It is a job to be done as a matter of service and it is a task, a demand that is made of few. But if you do it, no matter how wide your practice; and practices are generally much much wider and much less specialized, much less narrow than the ones on the original side. But it is unbelievable how much your vistas open up, once you are a judge and seeing all these matters,” the High Court judge said..Justice Patel also spoke about his experience as a High Court judge.He elaborated on the importance for a judge, who is elevated from the Bar, to stay in touch with the members of the Bar so as to keep their relationships going.“One of the things that I learnt is that you don’t lose your contact with the Bar. You keep your doors open, you keep those avenues and discussions open outside courtroom and you keep the relationships going. This becomes important,” he said..He also added that judges face a lot of pressure but humor during court proceedings and co-operation from the Bar helped him tackle stress.“It is very useful to find some moment or element humor in a day’s proceedings. It takes stress out of the issues more often than not. Sometimes the pressure is a lot. But the cooperation throughout from the Bar has been astonishing. I don’t think anything of the same was possible without the cooperation from the Bar,” he said. .Justice Patel also confirmed his love for film making, something which he admitted to have pursued before joining the legal profession.“The fact about film making was true. But when I had sent my application to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, it went on strike and I somehow wound up here accidentally,” he confessed.