Find a role model, observe successful lawyers, attend courts: Senior Advocate Haresh Jagtiani at DM Harish School of Law

A virtual lecture on Professional Ethics in Advocacy and Attorney-Client Privilege organised at DM Harish School of Law through Virtual Mode witnessed Senior Advocate Haresh Jagtiani sharing insights from his extensive career in the legal field.

The session covered the importance of professional ethics, its impact in the field of law, various duties and responsibilities of legal practitioners and concerned authorities to look into the matter as well as famous judgements regarding the same. Jagtiani explained the main characteristics which a lawyer should possess and urged students to try to inculcate these from the very beginning. He explained the etiquette and decorum which should be followed as a lawyer.

“Make the most of these University years in terms of learning and introspection. Imbibe as much knowledge as possible. Find a role model, follow lawyers who have been successful, meet them, go and attend their courts, listen to them, see their style. It will hold you in good stead,” Jagtiani was seen advising students.

DM Harish School of Law (DMHSL) is a constituent School of HSNC University, Mumbai and is recognised by the Bar Council of India (BCI).

He explained to the students the history of advocacy, the development of the legal profession and the obligations of advocates to the court, their clients, their colleagues, their opponents and themselves. He advised the students to carve out time in their schedules to establish a regular reading and exercise routine.

“What is the greatest asset a lawyer can acquire for himself as he goes on in his profession? There is only one and that is his credibility. It has to be the aim and endeavour of every budding lawyer to make sure that his credibility never gets compromised. It is this whole effort of building your credibility that is steeped in your belief in ethics. What is ethics? Ethics is some sort of an inner voice that you consult because you know what is right and what is wrong,” Jagtiani explained.

Jagtiani also highlighted the difference between advertising and solicitation and mentioned that it is 'often blurry'. He elaborated saying,

"Solicitation is a communication directed to an individual with whom the attorney doesn’t already have a personal or professional relationship. The difference is based on how intrusive the communication is. Things get even fuzzier when technology is involved."

He emphasized that there are very few elements of the law as holy and sacred as Attorney-client privilege and that an advocate should not misuse or take advantage of the confidence reposed in him by his client.

"Attorney-client privilege is the common law concept that makes all communications between a lawyer and their client confidential, and such confidentiality is protected by law. Without attorney-client privilege, no person would ever receive a proper defence or a fair trial. Attorney-client privilege allows a person to speak with his/her lawyer freely, without the fear of his/her lawyer turning on him. This in turn allows the lawyer to put up the best possible defence for his/her client. In a modern legal system, the attorney-client privilege is at the heart of justice, and without it, there would be no liberty," Jagtiani explained.

In his hour-long lecture peppered with quotes of jurists, he gave an aerial view of the current status of law practice. He also shared insights into becoming a successful trial lawyer, focusing on the necessity of exceptional communication, thorough preparation, strong analytical and research skills, building professional relationships, and maintaining ethical integrity and resilience.

About HSNC University, Mumbai

HSNC University, Mumbai is a State Public University consisting of three prestigious colleges of the board; namely, KC College, HR College & Bombay Teacher's Training College (BTTC). It was established as a joint venture between the Ministry of HRD, the Government of Maharashtra and the HSNC Board. HSNC University, Mumbai is head-quartered at its multi-storey building at Worli in Mumbai. This multi-faculty University aims to set new paradigms of education. It wishes to harness the energy and enthusiasm of the young, dynamic population of India and guide it towards the path of learning, knowledge, research, innovation, service to society and entrepreneurship.

About DM Harish School of Law (DMHSL)

In its pursuit of excellence, HSNC University, Mumbai (a State Public University) launched the D.M. Harish School of Law, and received Bar Council of India’s recognition in November 2021.

The objective of the law school is to provide socially relevant, comprehensive and interdisciplinary legal education through its curricula, innovations and adding new interfaces to address contemporary issues. All the law programs offered by DMHSL are designed to create new-age legal professionals by pooling the resources of experts from the legal fraternity and the best of academia.

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