Conduct in court, professional conduct in general, and the privileges of an advocate

Professional Ethics · Unit I · Topic 3 of 18 · 6 min read

How an advocate must behave before the court and outside it, the restrictions on other employment, and the rights and privileges the law gives an advocate: the right to practise, pre-audience, professional privilege and freedom from being summoned over a client's affairs.

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On this page

1. Conduct in court
2. Professional conduct in general
3. Disabilities: restrictions on other employment
4. Rights and privileges
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

The examinable core. “Rights and privileges of an advocate” (December 2017) and “privileges and disabilities of an advocate” (June 2017) are the usual forms. The answer has two sides: what the advocate may claim (the right to practise, pre-audience, privilege against disclosure, protection from summons) and what he must not do (the disabilities in Rules 47 to 52 and the court conduct rules).

1. Conduct in court

Section I of Chapter II, Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules (Rules 1 to 10) governs the advocate’s behaviour before the court. They are taken in detail in the note on duties to the court. For conduct in court the essentials are:

Dignity, not servility (Rule 1). The advocate is respectful but independent. If he has a serious complaint against a judicial officer, it is his right and duty to submit it to the proper authority, not to air it in court.
Respect for the office (Rule 2), because the dignity of the judicial office is essential to a free community.
No private communication with the judge about a pending case (Rule 3).
Restraint of the client (Rule 4). The advocate is not a mere mouthpiece. He must avoid scurrilous pleadings and intemperate argument, and must refuse to act for a client who persists in unfair practices.
Dress (Rule 5 and Rule 7). Only the prescribed dress in court; bands and gown not to be worn in public places except on ceremonial occasions.
Relatives on the Bench (Rule 6). No appearance before a court of which a close relative is a member.
Interest (Rules 8, 9, 10). No appearance for or against an institution on whose executive committee he sits, no acting in a matter in which he is pecuniarily interested, and no standing surety for a client.

2. Professional conduct in general

The Preamble to Chapter II makes the important point: conduct which is lawful for a layman may still be improper for an advocate, and the rules are guides, not a complete code. So “professional or other misconduct” in section 35 covers conduct outside the courtroom too. An advocate convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude, or who cheats a client in a private transaction, can be disciplined. Professional conduct in general includes:

no soliciting of work or advertising beyond the permitted website particulars (Rule 36);
no fee contingent on the result and no share in the subject of litigation (Rules 20 to 22A);
accounting for the client’s money (Rules 25 to 33);
courtesy and good faith towards the opponent and colleagues (Rules 34 to 39);
the restrictions on other employment in Section VII (below).

3. Disabilities: restrictions on other employment

Rule 47. An advocate shall not personally engage in any business, but may be a sleeping partner in a firm if, in the opinion of the State Bar Council, the business is not inconsistent with the dignity of the profession.
Rule 48. He may be a director or chairman of a company, provided none of his duties are executive; he shall not be a managing director or secretary.
Rule 49. He shall not be a full-time salaried employee of any person, government, firm or corporation while he practises. On taking employment he must inform the Bar Council and cease to practise. In Satish Kumar Sharma v. Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh, 2001 INSC 2, (2001) 2 SCC 365, the enrolment of a full-time salaried law officer of a State electricity board was held invalid on this ground.
Rule 50. An inherited family business may be continued, but not personally managed.
Rule 51. He may review parliamentary bills, edit law books, coach students, set and examine papers, and engage in journalism, broadcasting and teaching, subject to the rules against advertising and full-time employment.
Rule 52. Part-time employment is permitted with the State Bar Council’s consent if it does not conflict with professional work.

4. Rights and privileges

Right to practise (section 30). Every advocate on a State roll is entitled as of right to practise throughout India in all courts including the Supreme Court, before any tribunal or person legally authorised to take evidence, and before any other authority before whom he is entitled to practise by law. Section 30 was brought into force only in 2011; before that the right was limited by older laws. It is subject to the High Court’s power to make rules under section 34 and to the Supreme Court’s rules on advocates-on-record.
Exclusive right (sections 29 and 33). Only advocates may practise law; section 32 allows a court to permit any person to appear in a particular case.
Pre-audience (section 23). The Attorney-General first, then the Solicitor-General, the Additional Solicitors-General, the Advocates-General of the States, then senior advocates, then other advocates in order of seniority.
Professional privilege. Under section 132 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872), an advocate cannot be permitted to disclose a communication made to him by the client in the course of his engagement, or advice given, without the client’s express consent. The privilege does not cover communications in furtherance of an illegal purpose, or a crime or fraud observed since the engagement began. Section 134 (section 129 of the old Act) protects the client from being compelled to disclose. Rule 17 makes a breach of the privilege professional misconduct.
Protection from summons. In In re: Summoning Advocates who give Legal Opinion or Represent Parties during Investigation, 2025 INSC 1275, the Supreme Court held that investigating agencies cannot summon an advocate to disclose details of a case he is handling, except where the matter falls within an exception to section 132, and laid down safeguards for such summons, which are open to judicial scrutiny under section 528 of the BNSS.
Right to fees. An advocate may recover his fee, but has no lien over the client’s case papers (see the note on duties to the client).
Freedom of speech in court. Statements made in good faith in the course of arguing a case are protected, but this does not extend to scandalising the court, which is contempt.

Trap. Section 30 gives a right to practise, not a right to appear anywhere on any terms. In the Supreme Court, only an advocate-on-record may file and act; others may argue when instructed by one. Courts may also bar an advocate who is in contempt from appearing until he purges it: Pravin C. Shah v. K.A. Mohd. Ali, 2001 INSC 493, (2001) 8 SCC 650.

How this is examined

For “rights and privileges” take section 30, sections 29 and 33, section 23, the professional privilege under section 132 of the BSA, and the 2025 decision on summons, in that order. For “privileges and disabilities” add Rules 47 to 52. The sleeping-partner problem (June 2018) is answered from Rule 47 and is worked out in the note on admission and enrolment.

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