Supreme Court of India
Advocate-on-Record
Examination – June 2025
Question Paper - III
Advocacy and Professional
Ethics
Total Marks: 100
Time: 3 Hours
1.
Kindly read all the questions carefully
before writing your answer.
2.
All the Questions carry equal marks of
10.
3.
Please answer either of the alternative
questions in Question no 4 and 8.
1.
What are the rules to govern creation and maintenance
of a website by an Advocate on Record? Please answer with reasons whether you
approve or disapprove, in part or full, to include the following in your
website as an Advocate on Record;
A.
Your name, qualification, contact detail with address
of your office/residence.
B.
Names of your associates with qualification and
other details.
C.
Other accomplishments, such as foreign degrees,
awards, honour, and public and/or Bar Office(s) held.
D.
Names of prominent clients represented.
E.
Links to books/Articles/Speeches.
F.
Your success rate in comparison with other AOR’s.
G.
The photographs with background of Supreme Court
of India and images of office, your addressing the court and your social
interaction with the judges.
2.
(i) Abif chunk of land, in which you would have
substantial share in compensation, is acquired for public purpose. You are
approached by other landholders affected by same acquisition to conduct the
proceedings for determination of fair compensation for their landholding as an
Advocate. Would you agree to act as an Advocate for these proceedings on the
behalf of the other landholders, and if yes, would you agree for any of the
following options;
A.
To appear pro-bono on behalf of all the other
landholders
B.
To appear without charging any fees for some of
the landholders, each of whom promise to persuade five other landholders to
engage you on payment of your fees.
C.
To appear on payment of 50% of the fees and the
50% payble only after successful outcome of the proceedings with determination
of fair compensation at the agreed rate.
D.
To appear on payment of full fees in the
beginning and bonus fees @ 25% of compensation over and above the agreed rate.
E.
To appear free without any fees to begin with
but sharing 50 of the compensation as may be awarded.
(ii) Instead of landholder in
above scenario (i), the dependants of the victims of a road accident approach
you with proposal A to E above.
Please give your answer with
respect to all the five options in scenarios (i) and (ii) above with brief
reasons for the steps you would take in case the fees due to you in any of the
options above in not paid after final determination of the compensation.
3.
A Chief Minister arrested on charge of
corruption, perceived in large section of media as an act of political rivalry
and mischief, resigns after an adverse order and denial of bail by the High Court.
The Special Leave Petition filed by you on behalf of this former chief minister
is due to be heard shortly. In the mintime;
A.
Would you release the contents of your petition
to the media to demonstrate in public how unjustly your client has been
treated?
B.
Would you answer the queries form media about
the arguments in your petition to put your point of view in ongoing perception
war in the matter?
C.
Would you join the media debate after the
verdict in the matter is in favour of your eminent client who has resumed the
office of Chief Minister?
D.
Would you join the media debate after the
verdict in the matter is against you but widely criticized as violating the
human rights and liberty?
E.
Would you pen an article only on the legal
issues before, during, and after the hearing in this matter?
4.
How do you describe an actionable ‘misconduct’
by a lawyer? Please describe in bried at least five heads of misconduct with
reference to cases decided by the Supreme Court of India.
OR
What are the duties of an
advocate towards Court, client and Opposite side?
5.
In light of attorney-client privilege, how would
you proceed further in a matter as Advocate-on-Record when your client admits
of committing of the offence, you are to defend on his behalf in appeal? Please
elaborate your role as lawyer to espouse the cause of your client, sometimes
described as guns-on-hire, vis-à-vis your duty as an officer of the court to
assist in dispensation of justice.
6.
Are lawyers liable to be proceeded against in
case of professional negligence towards the client under the Consumer
Protection Act? Please elaborate the rationale for your answer with response to
opinion that like the responsibility of Doctors towards the patient, the
lawyers must also be liable to the clients, subject to adjudication by the
Consumer Forum of professional negligence on part of the lawyers. Which are the
important judgments in this regard?
7.
As part of advocacy and court craft, one must
have wisdom to know when not to argue. Please elaborate this with at least
seven features which can be termed as instances of bad advocacy.
8.
In virtual hearing really necessary, desirable and
effective, though not preferred in a section of Bar and Bench? What are the
ethics etiquettes to be observed in course of virtual hearing?
OR
In an urgent engagement to file
e-file a Special Leave Petition on behalf of clients based outside Delhi, the
proposed petitioners are father, son and doughter. It is informed that the
father is suffering from Alzheimer with periods of lucidity. The papers are
forwarded electronically with telephonic information that Vakalatnama is signed
by the father on PDF in the period of lucidity, however, without attestation.
How would you go about it? How would you ensure that pleadings are seen and
approved by all the petitioners? How would you deal with proposal for
settlement in course of hearing which appears fair and reasonable to you?
9.
Please explain you views on strike by lawyer for
cases like creation of a bench of High Court, crime against lawyers in court
premises, filling of vacancies of Judges etc. What according to you are
effective alternatives to strike by lawyers to avoid suffering for litigants?
10.
Mediation
has emerged as one of the foremost method of Alternative Dispute Resolution.
What are the professional, ethics, and other challenges in your duty to advice
and conduct mediation to have fair resolution of dispute of your client in
course of mediation? How would you respond to proposal for special fee if a
dispute were to be settled through mediation instead of prolonged litigation?