Advocacy is an Honourable profession. Advocates are part and parcel of Court. Their efforts solve the conflicts in the society. Advocates defend the rights and liabilities. They hold unique place in the society. Advocacy is not a craft but a calling; a profession wherein devotion to duty constitutes the hallmark.

In the case of J,S Jadhav Vs. Mustafa Haji Mohamad yusuf 1993 AIR 1535, the Hon’ble Supreme court of India observed that “Advocacy is not a craft but a calling; a profession wherein devotion to duty constitutes the hallmark. The sincerity of performance and the earnestness of endeavour are the two wings that will bare aloft the advocate to the tower of success. Given these virtues, other qualifications will follow of their own account. This is the reason why the legal profession is regarded as a noble one.”

Thus, the legal fraternity centered on upholding and reinforcing the justice notion is the resemblance of nobility, which must be maintained and followed by the people immersed in it. In general parlance, ethics deals with the required qualities that encompass a well-founded standard of righteous behaviour qua the code of conduct elucidating what an individual is ought to do i.e. his rights and duties.

As like every profession, the legal profession is encapsulated in a code, which is avowed ethics. Undeniably, the bedrock principle on which this noble profession has built is professional ethics. Such legal professional ethics lay down the ethical code that a legal person should possess so as to keep up the law and justice by balancing the relationship between the bar and the bench.

A great position entails great responsibility, as like, an advocate being the authority qualified to plead should hold certain qualities and other pertinent skills. As far as India is concerned, legal ethics can be defined as the code of conduct stated either in written or unwritten provided for the regulation of advocates behaviour falls within the purview of  Advocates Act, 1961.

Rules on the professional standards that an advocate needs to be maintained are mentioned in Chapter II, Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules. These rules have been incorporated in Section 49 (1) (c) of the Advocates Act, 1961. It is pertinent to note that this provision empowers the bar council of India (A statutory body established under Section 4 of the Advocates Act, 1961) to make and regulate rules on the standard of professional conduct and etiquette to be observed by advocates.

It was Judge Edward Abbott Parry who brought the theory into existence. He gave the seven lamps of advocacy. After that, the 8th lamps of advocacy were added by justice V Krishnaswamy Aiyar in his legal book of “professional conduct and advocacy”. He named 8th lamp of advocacy TACT.

The qualities given above the seven lamps of advocacy are the best and essential qualities of an advocate which must be followed by an advocate to succeed in his legal profession while practising in the court anywhere. Let’s know about each and every lamp of advocacy.

Honesty

Honesty in a profession is the official policy that should be used by every person while interacting with another person. Honesty should reflect in the thoughts, words and behaviour of an advocate. It is honesty that increases the personal and professional reputation of the person in a society. The reputation of an advocate is the thing that includes his fame and trust with his clients and bar. 

An advocate is expected to be honest while dealing with the case and making arguments and producing oral and documentary evidence in the court of law.  The judge decides the case on the basis of the submission and arguments done by an advocate on the behalf of his client. If wrong fact represented by an advocate can punish an innocent person. An advocate should be:

Honest with his client-

• He must tell his client about the position of the case every time. 
• An advocate must tell about the merits of the case
• He must tell about the demerits of the case or any consequences which can lead to the loss of his client. 
• If an advocate is going to lose the case in court, he should talk about this. 

Honest with opposition-

An advocate should be honest even with his opposition party. He should not give any false facts to take the case in the opposite direction. 

Deceiving a person in a case should not be the purpose of an advocate. 

Honest to law-

The person who is filing the case in the court is here to take justice, not to check the talent of an advocate. Honest with the law means an advocate should give the truthful fact in front of the judge, not any false statements. Telling the truth in front of the judge is the best practice for honesty. 

Courage

Courage is one of the important factors in seven lamps of advocacy. Courage means the ability to stand in front of the court without any fear. An advocate should feel proud and confident while arguing in a case. It builds the ability of an advocate to convince the judge that his true and honest facts represent on the behalf of his client. 

A lawyer faces many problems while dealing with Civil litigation or Criminal litigation He should have the courage to stand in that case and remove these problems fearlessly. He should have been ready to fight all the problems and social evils. Advocates can use courage as their weapon, but for that, they must have a deep knowledge of the law. 

Not all cases are easy for dealing with, an advocate can get the case related to murder, material rape, abatement, Child labour etc. He should have the courage to take every kind of case. 

Industry

Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. He must have the knowledge of the law for which he is dealing in a case. We all know that the law is like an ocean; no one can be the master of law. But an advocate should know about the law used in the case in which he is dealing for. 

Advocates should have knowledge, attitude and skill while dealing with the case. To get the knowledge of the law and understand the law he should have given sufficient time for that. 

No advocate can win the case without sufficient knowledge of the law. He must have given the time for the case so that he could deal perfectly with that case and increase his chance to win the case. Our law is not static, it keeps changing with the need of society every time to solve the various new problems of the society. An advocate should update himself with these new laws. Even if a lawyer was good enough to deal with all the cases in the previous time, and now he does not stay up to date with new laws, he will face difficulties while dealing with the case in the present time. There is no way other than hard work. 

Wit

Being a professional lawyer in the field of law, a lawyer should have wit and a sense of humour. It is the humour that keeps us calm and active. A person without a sense of humour will fight the case with anger which isn’t good for providing justice. Judges also like the advocates and witnesses which help them to provide justice in a case. 

The wit is a necessary lamp to lighten the darkness of advocacy. A wit helps the advocates to stay focused on his work and reduce the workload so that he can remain relaxed. It automatically removes the mental strain of an advocate so that he can think beyond the limits of his mind. 

A well-prepared speech by an advocate in front of the Judge will not always work. An advocate has to answer the questions of a Judge and that question will check the wit and presence of mind of a lawyer. The questions asked by judges check the intelligence and knowledge of advocates related to the case. 

It happens many times that an advocate forgets to produce something in the court or fails to answer some questions in the court. At that time, it is the wit of an advocate which helps him to fill that gap. 

Eloquence

The lamp of eloquence is the art of speaking. Every advocate delivers his argument in front of the judge. But eloquence is the way to give the arguments in a way that holds a long-lasting effect on the judge as well as the clients and listeners in the courtroom. 

Eloquence is an oral art that is used by an advocate for fluent and skilful use of communication which touches the soul of a judge. 

An advocate who has a good knowledge of advocacy can use the eloquence language for fluent speaking. There are some important points related to eloquence as follow:

• An advocate should be a skilled speaker
• He should stay confident while giving the speech in front of the judge
• He should be fluent while giving this speech.
• The language used by an advocate should be error-free
• He should have the ability to pause himself at the right moment
• This speech given by an advocate should be effective, not dramatic.
• He should give this speech in a way that leaves an impression on the judge.
• The language should be used in a way that should help the judge while writing his judgement. 
• The language should influence people towards the point of discussion.
• Use of the right law phrase and law maxim. 

An advocate can use the power of eloquence by:

• noticing the faults made by the opposite party
• Presence of mind in the case
• Knowledge and practice
• By setting the relation between arguments and justification

The skill to develop the equivalence in Hindi speech needs more and more knowledge. 

Judgement

The lamp of judgement means the deep study of the present case and then make an informed opinion for that case. An advocate should think from two sides of the case because it will help him to understand the consequences of the case. By understanding the case from both sides the advocates knows the merits and demerits of that case. It helps him to anticipate the problems and tackle the same with his other lamps of advocacy. 

A good advocate knows what will be the consequences after representing a witness in court. He should be aware of what questions can be asked by the judges and the opposite party after the witness. And he should be ready to counter these arguments and questions from the opposite party and judges of the case as well. 

Fellowship

Fellowship is one of the most important lamps of advocacy. An advocate must carry fellowship with his colleagues. When an advocate takes the case and argues, he argues against an opposite advocate. But it does not make them opposite to each other, they are just making arguments for the sake of justice only. After finishing the argument in the court hall, the advocate should respect his opposite advocate. Even while doing an argument in court, an advocate should respect his opposite lawyer as well. The reason is, it is not the fight between both of them but it is the fight for justice only. 

After the judgement of the caught in a case, even if an advocate lost the case, he should respect the advocate who wins the case. If an advocate starts fighting with each and every advocate who is opposing him in the case, he will make all the advocates his enemy which is not professional ethics. 

A case must not bother his friendly relationship with other advocates. An advocate should while referring to the opposite advocate use the term as a learned friend or learned counsel. 

Advocates should also use the lamp of fellowship for judges also. It is the arguments of an advocate which leads his case. The advocate should respect the judge even if he gave the opposite decision. An advocate should refer to a judge as:

• Learned Judge or Your Honour
• High court- your lordship or my lord

These are the terms that show respect towards the other advocates and judges. It builds a friendship with another colleague. 

8th lamp of advocacy

TACT is the 8th lamp of advocacy. An Indian lawyer and former judge of Madras High Court “V Krishnaswamy Iyer” has written the TEACT in his book of PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ADVOCACY as the 8th lamp of advocacy. 

Sometimes it happens that the courtroom becomes a mess due to the heavy and serious arguments by advocates. In those circumstances, advocates should know how to tackle the situation. An advocate should know how to:

• control his client in that situation
• Control over the opponent advocate in the case. 
• Persuade the judge 

An advocate should use a great technique that will be able to control the messy situation in the courtroom. 

(7+1) Tact K.V.Krishnaswamy Aiyer, in his book “Professional Conduct and Advocacy” adds one more lamp i.e. tact. Tact means handling people and situations skilfully and without causing offence. An advocate must be in a position to tackle and win his client, opponent party, opponent advocate in a smoother way. Many people of unequal ability have failed for want of tack. An advocate should not quarrel with Court or loose temper over trifle things in the Court and outside. Men of unquestioned ability have suffered for quarrelling with the tribunal or for standing on their dignity over trifles, for getting their clients, or for losing their tempers; they are men of parts but more properly refers to the human side of putting into action the result of one’s judgment.

Conclusion

Advocates should keep burning these seven lamps of advocacy. Advocacy is not a way to make money but it is the profession that helps the person to provide justice. Through the eyes of Sir John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, To succeed as a lawyer, a man must work like a horse and live like a hermit. Former Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia expressed the same while emphasizing the necessary character, which aids an advocate to remain at the top in the legal profession

Advocacy is a profession and duty of an advocate towards society. Every lawyer is expected to deal with the case by using these seven lamps of advocacy. An honest advocate builds a strong bond with his clients and colleagues. Every lamp of advocacy has its own benefits which make the advocate confident and strong to deal with the case.

The seven lamps of advocacy are the qualities of a successful lawyer. If you are going to practice in court, you must obey the seven lamps of advocacy.