10 Qualities of Successful Advocate

10 Qualities of Successful Advocate

How to be a successful advocate

     justice Raj Kishore Prasad listed equipments of an advocate to be become a successful one as follows-

1)Honesty integrity and character :

                   An advocate should be honest and must be a man of integrity and character. Along with these he should possess straightforwardness to be appreciated by the court and the client alike. All great people become great due to their divine knowledge, honesty  and integrity. Honesty is the quality of freedom from deceit, cheating, stealing and telling lies. Integrity is the quality of completeness and upright in character. Character consisting both mental and moral qualities, make one person different from others. these 3 virtues of honesty, integrity and character go a long way towards the success of an advocate.

2)  Patience and perseverance :

                   Patience is the power of enduring trouble, suffering, inconvenience without complaining. An advocate with patience will have ability to wait for results, to deal with problems calmly and without haste. Perseverance is consent effort to achieve something. Patience and perseverance ones are two hands of success.  An advocate who is capable of labour, with maximum patience self confidence and Faith is honoured by all . He should not be Defeatist and pessimist. Exact thinking and exact expression are needed for a successful advocate. Accuracy and diligence are much more necessary to a lawyer than  great comprehension  of Mind or brilliancy of truant. says Daniel Webster.

 

3) Legal learning:

                     learning of law does not stop with the acquisition of law degree from a University. to acquire professional knowledge he has to continue the learning process.  To learn law an advocate should study law, and not merely read it . He should not taste and chew the law but he should digest it. The loss should be studied in spirit of enquiry. he must be through with the sections of Acts and case study. He must study law to reach the height of running Encyclopaedia of law.

4)  General education :

                              An advocate should not only be the master of his faculty in law but also the contemporary  knowledge of all the branches of sciences. He should have the knowledge of both social sciences and Natural physical sciences. He must touch every field of human being and he has to study all walks of life of human beings. If he is gifted with knowledge of all subjects he can claim to be an architect in the profession .

5) Memory :

                   In general sense a memory means the power of keeping fact in the conscious mind and of being able to call them back at will. An advocate should possess tenacious memory. and advocate has no use of  reading he fails to store the matter is memory . professor Blackie says , by memory I do not mean wholesale reproduction, but the faculty of the mind that will help an advocate at the hour of need to put his hand in the proper place, one that is cultivated and gained by system, order and classification as the result of intensive study. an advocate may have in memory many things but if he fails to use them skillfully then when needed they are of no use to him .

6) Study of Law Reports:

                   An advocates should read the current Law Reports to make it knowledge up to date . The Law Journal and reports published the case laws and articles on law issues . An advocate should not only study the Law Reports he should also preserve them to refer again and again and produce in the court in support of his arguments.

7 ) Use of legal phraseology :

                      Every science has its own terminology. In the similar way law also has its phraseology peculiar to itself every praise of law has it peculiar to itself. Every phrase of law has its peculiar special meaning it carries. No other word is suitable to be used in its place.  To express some feelings he should use appropriate word to convey such meaning. The elegance and dignity of arguments in court can be exposed through correct use of the language.

8) Manner in court:

An advocate should maintain calmness he should be a respectable to the court . He  should never interrupt the Judge when he speaks, but should wait for the judge to complete his statement. He should not reply in hurry to the question put by the judge. He should speak politely.

An  advocate should not argue when he is not asked for by the Judge. He should not continue his argument when the judge asks him not to proceed further.

An advocate should not loss balance, or temper in the court   if anything is expressed his opinion.  He can forcibly submit his opinion but with humility and modestly along with humour. He should be exemplary, calm and cool and ever smiling. He should argue logically but not confront or quarrel ;

9) Presentation of case:

             An advocate should I represent present meaningfully his case by arranging his thoughts in proper sequence and chronological order without confusion he should present record of citation for his law points presented. He should not give scope for the lapses of accuracy and misstatement for facts .  He should not repeat the arguments once again. An advocate should not conceal adverse points, But present the special circumstances of them.

Citation of Authorities:

He should quote the applicable citations. He should always take care of citing the latest authority on the particular point. If the decision of Supreme Court of privy Council are there which support his case we should present them instead of decisions of lower courts. He should skillfully select correct and suitable one among several decisions. He need not go for number of citations. It is always better to cite a few recent cases which have a closed resemblance to the fact of his case. He should refer the volume number, and page on which he wants to relay for his proposition of Law.

10) Independence and dignity :

An advocate should maintain his dignity Independence and integrity . An advocate should discharge his duties fearlessly and faithfully. He should not be a headstrong and arrogant . He should not be proud of himself.  He should give consideration for others. He should fulfill his duties with the eternal and immutable interests of  truth and justice.