Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act 1973

Legal Practitioner and Bar Councils Rules 1976

1) What are the stages for the enrollment of an advocate?

S.21 of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act (LPBCA) 1973 stipulates various
categories of advocates such as senior advocate Supreme Court, advocates of Supreme Court,
advocates of the High Court and other advocates. Provided that a person is qualified to do so
under s.26 of LPBCA, The first stage in being enrolled as an advocate involves the making of
an application for enrollment under s.30 LPBCA to the Bar council which refers the same to
an enrollment committee for consideration under s.31 (2) & (3) of the Act. Procedural
intricacies of making such an application are provided under Legal Practitioners and Bar
Council Rules (LPBCR) 1976 in its Rule 108A stipulating that it ought to be addressed to the
Provincial/Islamabad Bar Council in a Form called "FORM A” and must accompany relevant
credentials as specified under 108B(a)-(l) such as the evidence of date of birth, proof of
satisfactory qualification, testimonials from advocates, receipts of the paid fee, relevant
certificates of education and training and affidavits. Similar rules have been stipulated under
Rule 107 for enrollment application for Advocate of Supreme court.

Second step involves payment of fee for enrollment under s.34 of LPBCA for different
categories of advocates and an annual fee under s.34 (a) (b) (c) respectively. The amount has
been set under 110(a)-(g). Mode of payment of such a fee may be prescribed under the
provisions of s34 (2) (3) & (4) in installments or on dates prescribed under Rule 111(a) (b) of
LPBCR. Thirdly, the application will be considered by the Enrollment Committee under s.31
and will be dealt in with under Rule 108D considering the formulation of an enquiry
summary will either allow or reject the application under s.31 or issue a Certificate of
Enrollment under s.36 of the Act. Rule 108F requires that the applicant will be informed of
their acceptance status whereas 108E states a certificate for enrollment on Form E will be
issued to the applicant (appended with the rules). Similar provisions for Advocates of
Supreme court are laid out under Rule 107 & 108.
Finally, when an application of enrollment has been allowed their name will be entered on
the Roll of Advocates by Provincial and Islamabad Bar Council under s.24, s.23, s.25 in the
case of Advocates of High Court, High Court and other advocates respectively.

2) What are the obligations to become a lawyer?

Qualification required for enrollment as an advocate are stipulated under s.26 LPBCA 1973
requiring the applicant to be a citizen of Pakistan 26(a), of the age as per 26(b), under
s.26(cc) must have passed the test conducted by the Federal Government, has undergone
training under s26(d)(e) and paid the fee as per the latter. Similar qualification for Advocates
of High Court and Supreme Courts are laid out under s.27 and s.28 respectively. Eligibility
for women is expressly laid out under s.29 discrimination against them on grounds of their
sex is expressly prohibited.

In regards to the requirement of formal education and training, Rule 108C (1) demands a
comprehensive training for a period of 6 months “as a pupil in the chamber of an advocate
who has been entitled to practice for a period of not less 10 years” amendment added via
Notification of the Pakistan Bar Council dated 16-11-2015 further specifies that the candidate
must have passed an Assessment Test and taken the LLB examination. Moreover, Rule
108(2)(5) provides that the candidate must have also have cleared examination for subjects,
among others, of Civil Procedure Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Constitution of
Pakistan. Rule 108(I) creates an exception in regard to the requirement of training under
108(1)-(4) for candidates with an LLM degree, with a judicial background, or those who
have been training in Bar or England or any foreign Bar recognized by the Bar Council as
valid. Rule 108N and 108L also specify that a person has to be a member of Bar Association
of Supreme Bar Association in order to be enrolled as an Advocate or Advocate Supreme
Court respectively.

3) What are the acts that lawyers are prohibited to do?

After being enrolled, an Advocate’s conduct is regulated by the Rules contained in the
LPBCR 1976 Chapter XII. This chapter comprehensively stipulates the prohibitions for
and obligations upon Advocates in regard to other advocates, clients, duties towards
courts and the public generally. This answer will only briefly layout the duties in each
category. Stipulated Rules lay out positive and negative obligations upon Advocates.
Rule 134 requires an Advocate to uphold the dignity and high standing of his profession
in all his practices. Under Rule 135, an Advocate is prohibited to solicit their services
through advertisement, neither can they hire someone else to solicit employment for him
as per Rule 136, as per Rule 137, they are prohibited from communicating about a subject
of controversy with a party who is represented by an advocate, without the consent of the
advocate, they cannot communicate with or argue in front of a judge or Judicial officer
except in Courts and on merits of the case; after having supplied the other party with a
written copy thereof (Rule 138). As per Rule 140, Lawyers and their demeanor towards
each other should not be influenced by the resentment between opposing counsels. Rule
141 prohibits the division of fee between Advocates save those based upon the Principle
of division of labor. Furthermore, Advocates are required to maintain and uphold the
order of precedence as per the maintained Roll. Junior Advocates are under an obligation
to respect, help and assist senior lawyers under Rule143 and 144.
Additionally, in regards to clients an Advocate is prohibited from acquiring any
(proprietary or other) interest adverse to that of client’s under Rule 145. They may not
assume an employment adverse to the interest of their current or former clients in regards
to which they have access to confidential information (Rule 146). Advocates are not
allowed to represent the conflicting interests (Rule 148), neither are they allowed to buy
property in the name of their clients or mingle their own property with that of the client’s
(Rule 149 & 150). Furthermore, they will not advise the opposing legal counsels, nor
advise in violation of the law as per Rules 151 and 152. They must avoid incurring
charges that increase or decrease their fees. (Rule 154).
Thirdly, in regards to the courts an Advocate is obliged to respect and support the judges
as per Rule 160, avoid unjust criticism, refrain from preventing testimony in courts,
intentionally misquote to a judge the argument of opposing counsels, content of any
documents, statute or case law, or quote any repealed or unconstitutional law. An
 advocate must also not communicate or argue with the judge regarding a pending case, or
suppress facts, conceal witnesses capable of establishing innocence of the parties, or
publish in any newspaper regarding a matter pending in court (Rule 161-164). They must
strive to maintain judicial independence in judicial appointments, must render only
responsible and impartial advice to clients (Rule 165).
Finally, an Advocate shouldn’t be employed with the aim of harassing the other party,
they should treat adverse witnesses with fairness, must not conduct themselves that is a
disloyalty towards the law, shouldn’t assume the role of advocate in matter where has
been on a judicial role, can’t publish himself or his name plate on boards as per Rules 168
to 174.
Pursuant to Rule 175A and 175B, violation of any of the above mentioned Rules and
decisions of the Bar Council shall be considered as a professional misconduct and Gross
Professional Misconduct respectively.

4) What are the punishments for the prohibited actions under law?

S.41 of the LPBCA stipulates the “punishment of advocates for misconduct”. S41 (1)
states that an advocate may be “reprimanded, suspended, removed from practice, or be
made to pay such amount of compensation, fine or penalty if he is found guilty of
professional or other misconduct” (conduct mentioned above).
These penalties are followed by a formal procedure of filing a complaint made under s.41
(2) by a court or an individual against an advocate, to either Provincial or Supreme Court
Bar council. The procedure for dealing with the complaint by Bar Council is laid out in
41(3)-(9) regarding the proceedings by an inquiry committee to which the Bar Council
refers the complaint. An appeal against the decisions of the Bar Council can be made to
the Supreme Court under s.48 of the Act and the same has powers to suspend Advocates
from Practice along with the High Court. Finally, Pakistan Council, exercising their
disciplinary powers under s.46 may also in their own motion take disciplinary action
against an Advocate found liable of misconduct. The procedural guidelines of filing a
complaint against an Advocate are contained in Rule 117,118 and 119 of the LPBCR.
Q) Why do you think the law is as it is?
Present law seems to be acknowledging the role of an Advocate as someone whose job
demands him/her to come in contact with not just state institutions like Courts but also
individuals. Their actions seem to be having an influence on the general public as well.
This is the reason that abovementioned Rules cater to an Advocate’s conduct in regards
to all these groups. An agent of the law is subjected to the highest standard of behavior,
and Legal Practitioner and Bar Council Rules provide a comprehensive code of conduct
to hold Advocates accountable and govern their behavior. Furthermore, Advocates have a
wide array of responsibilities towards their clients as well as the court; by considering
any of the violation of these duties a professional misconduct, law aims to ensure that
those responsibilities are effectively fulfilled.
A through selection process for enrollment not just ensures fairness in the process but
also makes the profession more accessible to the general public. Abovementioned
requirements for formal education and legal training ensure that lawyers are most well
equipped to do their job. Procedural and substantive requirements of the current law aim
to uphold Rule of Law, judicial independence and ensure the most effective dispensation
of justice at the hands of those who, arguably, have the most crucial law in development
of the law.