Legally speaking!

The Court is closed for summer vacation which begins from today. I could have chosen to spend this weekend off coolly in Ooty. I refused the Ooty trip offer mainly because I thought staying back would serve me more on the basis of cost-benefit ratio. Think about hanging around in Ooty with two aged lawyers (mid-60s) for two days! It certainly is a disincentive.
I came to office at around 9:00 pm, my usual hours. There ware no clients in the office. I presumed it might be because of vacation which covers the entire month of May. But, soon after, i realized i should be wrong. The Clients were visiting as usual as on during the working days.
I was the only junior advocate who was present in the office so I decided to take instructions from the clients and provided them with possible solution to their problems on my own by rendering them legal opinions.
At first there was one such client, who was anxious if his Crusher factory, with a crore and above of investment, has any unfound legal impediment in view of decision rendered by division bench in Paravathammal granites case numbered in W.P. 12942 of 2011. He was worried if his need to be shut down. [for detailed interaction about the case, click on http://lawcrumbs.blogspot.in/2012/04/summer-counselling.html].  I read the judgment and listened to the facts of the client and advised him he need not bother since he had not violated any conditions laid down by the Tamil Nadu pollution control board. I put down my opinion in words in a letter pad and advised him to use it when he meets my senior, Raghu sir.
After the client met my senior, the client insisted me to accept some monetary consideration. I refused since i thought it was not ethical to take money without a strong justification. To my own surprise, I was told by the client that it was my senior who instructed him to pay that amount to me when the client asked if he was required to pay any amount.

I felt happy, not because of the amount but because of the purpose i had received it.

one of the basic function of lawyers to provide a legal opinion. I did and was rewarded for it!!

Making impossible a possibility

when I began my professional career, I feared about the time I thought I would require to become well verse with certain very basic things which has crucial role to play in the career of a litigating lawyer. Two instances, which I like to cite, would more or less highlight the reasons for the fear. Once, my senior, Raghu sir asked me to read some papers (He asks his juniors to read the case-papers while he would listen). As I started reading, I realized I could be of little help to him. I stuttered, stammered and stopped and when was about to re-start, I was asked in a very surprising tone by my senior who said, “Do you know Tamil?”. I said yes but also said I was not apt at when comes to reading, especially the drafts which are made in Tamil. The next moment he made a sarcastic comment in a very interesting tone, i.e “Dude Read Ttaaameel or else it would be difficult to practice in Madras High Court ”. He called a more experienced junior and asked her to read the papers as I left the room with such angst.

The other incident is when I was trying to read the second appeal, I was instructed not to read by senior’s brother, who is also my senior. The reason he gave for not allowing me read it was that “he himself had taken not less than two years to learn reading second appeal cases”.

Such a statement, especially who hold position as that of a senior, by him did create an impression that it was not easy to read a second appeal cases in such short span of time since at that time it was just 2 to 3 months since I began practicing. I did give up even touching the bundle, if not for the reason I was quite convinced about the difficulty involved in reading the second appeal but least to obey the instruction of him

Having said that, what I am able to do