J Pradeep Kumar (na) 14 January 2023

Advocate misconduct

My friend was arrested in April2019 on IPC 341, 502,505 he got bail through a senior counsel

My friend has no knowledge of law, the senior counsel assured best possible solution to the issue

1363 days have passed, the senior counsel has not quashed FIR, has filed quashing of CC in HC in Dec2020

2 years have passed in HC, no quashing has happened, counsel has taken Rs.1 lakh as fees, my friend is jobless and has sold property to meet the legal expenditure.

Senior counsel is advising my friend to compromise with complainant (accept mistake) and give up the case.(no compensation)

Does this constitute misconduct because similar cases have an avg. life of 2 months at HC, but since April2019 this lawyer has not got justice.

Please HELP.

Thanks in advance

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3 Replies

bharat kothari 15 January 2023

the first mistake your friend has done is engaging senior council instead he would have engage some competent and junior advocate who would have time to defend your friends case. it is very difficult to prove the allegation which you are making couple with protection given to advocates under advocate act. please first change your advocate and then file a written complaint against the council in bar council of particular state

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Sandeep Pamarati (Advocate) 21 January 2023

File the complaint with Bar Council and let the Disciplinary Committee decide.

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Niharika Lohan 10 June 2023

Hi Pradeep, I’m Adv. Niharika and here is my take on your query.

Firstly, by the fact that your friend involved a senior counsel, the fee of the same is bound to be higher than the other advocates. Secondly, your friend consented to the said fee and paid the counsel at the first place. The matter of fees policy is very subjective to different advocates.

Now your friend is unsatisfied with the advice of the counsel, which should not mean that you question his charges. What I mean to convey is that, because you are not satisfied with the advice you do not get a valid right to object the remuneration of the counsel.

But in the case, there has been exorbitant delay due to the counsel or his behaviour was callous/unprofessional (no response to calls, message, mails, absence on court hearing dates), despite charging a hefty fee; then you can make a complaint to the Bar Council of your state and they shall issue a disciplinary inquiry against the said senior counsel. You can then take a deep breath, as the inquiry will then be set against the senior counsel and then you can hope for the best possible results by means of compensation.

I hope this information yields fruitful. In case of further query, you can reach me via email at niharikalohan@yahoo.com