Lawyers observe 'ceasework' over Nandigram

from The Hindu

Kolkata (PTI): Most lawyers across the state on Tuesday observed a ceasework at the call of West Bengal Bar Council in protest against the recent violence in Nandigram, as a PIL was moved before the Calcutta High Court challenging the agitation.

Cases could not be taken up in the over 500 courts in the state, including the High Court, as lawyers did not attend.

The ceasework was observed against the violence and atrocities on women at Nandigram, the role of the state police and verbal attacks on the Governor and the High Court, Council Chairman Jyotipriyo Mallick said.

Mallick said that the ceasework was totally successful and had the support of lawyers.

A procession of lawyers was also taken out from the Sealdah court to the Gandhi statue demanding proper law and order in the state and neutral role of police.

The PIL challenging the decision of the Council to hold a ceasework was filed by Basabi Roy Chowdhury and moved by senior counsel Subroto Mukhopadhyay, who is also the assistant secretary of the High Court unit of the Democratic Lawyers Association, the CPI(M)'s lawyers' wing.

Mukhopadhyay, submitting before a division bench presided by Chief Justice S S Nijjar, said that as per a Supreme Court judgement of 2006, lawyers could not resort to strikes whatever may be the cause.

He claimed that the ceasework was a violation of the apex court order. The matter would be heard on wednesday.

Lawyers seek end to emergency in pakistan

from the daily times, pakistan

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi District Bar Association (RDBA) on Friday staged a peaceful protest rally on the district court premises, demanding immediate restoration of the deposed judges of the Supreme Court, the Constitution and democracy in the country. Over 300 lawyers and civil society members participated in the rally. RDBA President Raja Khalid Ismail, former Supreme Court Bar Association president Ikram Chaudhry and senior lawyers Zulfiqar Abbasi, Abdur Rehman Lodhi, Sardar Tariq, Toufeeq Asif Chaudhry, Ghulam Farooq Awan, Khawaja Javed Iqbal led the rally. Chanting anti-government slogans, the rally took a round of the district courts before entering the Quaid-e-Azam Hall. Addressing the protesting lawyers, Ikram Chaudhry said the lawyers salute all those judges who had refused to take oath under the PCO. He said they would boycott the PCO judges and cancel the membership of all those lawyers who attended the courts of the PCO judges. He said the lawyers would continue their protest till elimination of dictatorship from the country. He said senior lawyers, including Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan, being kept at Adiala Jail, were not allowed to connect with the outside world. There’s no mobile phone, no TV, no newspapers in the jail, he said. A senior lawyer, Umar Awan, told Daily Times that the RDBA would continue its protest till restoration of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Police and law enforcement agencies personnel stood around to deal with any untoward situation. Atif Khan adds: The Islamabad Bar Association on Friday staged a rally on the district courts premises to protest the state of emergency and sacking of the Supreme Court judges. Addressing the lawyers, Association President Haroonur Rasheed said the entire nation demanded Musharraf government’s resignation and lifting of emergency. He rejected the interim government and said the new setup was a continuation of the Musharraf rule under which free and fair elections were impossible. Hundreds of lawyers walked around the district courts and chanted anti-government slogans. They demanded immediate reinstatement of the deposed judges of the Supreme Court. staff report

Stand for democracy with Pakistan's lawyers

From The Detroit Free Press

Like so many others, I am deeply disturbed by the recent events in Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf has suspended the national constitution, detained eight members of the Supreme Court, and arrested thousands of Pakistani lawyers who were peacefully protesting the dismantling of their legal system.

Musharraf seeks to justify his emergency rule by citing the threat of terrorism. In reality, by arresting nonterrorists and shutting down an independent judiciary, he empowers terrorists. An independent and unbiased court system is fundamental to the survival of a free society.

By standing up for the rule of law, the lawyers of Pakistan have won the admiration and solidarity of lawyers around the world. Many members of the Michigan bar have contacted me, asking how Michigan lawyers can express support for their colleagues across the globe.

Next week, lawyers everywhere will be showing their support for Pakistani lawyers in many ways. The American Bar Association is planning a march in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14, where lawyers in black suits will gather and walk around the U.S. Supreme Court building. Parallel events will take place throughout our country on the same day.

The rule of law is the foundation of civilized society, and lawyers are the guardians of the rule of law. Their role is never more important than when the survival of the rule of law is at risk.

I urge Michigan residents and my fellow lawyers to show support for their Pakistani counterparts and to encourage our own government to support the release of the detained judges, lawyers and human rights activists, and the restoration of the rule of law in Pakistan.

A global career for India's lawyers

From The Economic Times

The legal profession in India has expanded to new dimensions and is no more confined to conventional bar practice. It is clear that the offshore outsourcing of legal services to India, commonly although perhaps misleadingly, referred to as legal process outsourcing (LPO), is a fast-growing industry. The Trade Policy Review of India tabled at WTO in April this year terms this phenomenon as “offshore outsourcing of legal services” and estimates the market potential for offshore legal services from the US alone at $3-4 billion. Legal professionals are enthusiastic, optimistic, yet curious about the nature and scope of offshore legal work provided from India.

BPO, FPO, KPO, LPO, PPO, RPO — this growing list of acronyms has led to a stereotypical perception that businesses, eager to ride the outsourcing wave, are constantly being set up to process just about everything under the sun in this supposedly flat world. This generalised view, however, falls flat when one takes a closer look at what these companies actually do.

There are significant differences even amongst companies that are ostensibly clubbed together under the same acronym. In the offshore legal services or LPO space, for example, the gamut of services offered by different providers varies from indexing and coding to database maintenance, patent support, contract review and management, litigation support, legal compliance, research and drafting, content generation and combinations thereof. Low-hanging fruit such as patent support work, indexing of legal documents and legal transcription do not necessarily require to be performed by lawyers and are generally not provided by 'pure-play' legal service providers like Mindcrest.

Clients of offshore legal services companies are primarily international law-firms and legal departments of multinational corporations. Lawyers who do this work are trained on specific aspects of the laws of the jurisdictions in which their clients operate. Their knowledge of Indian laws is indeed helpful as India's legal system is based on the principles of common law.

Offshore legal services companies aim at providing excellent client service based on the application of legal skills by dedicated teams of lawyers, a process-driven approach, quality assurance of work product, timely response and the ability to scale what is essentially subjective, analysis driven work. Many such providers are increasingly functioning as extensions of corporate legal departments and law firms.
Until now, corporate India has employed lawyers to perform a necessary support function. The advent of offshore legal services has presented India's lawyers the opportunity to take their place at the heart of the organisation and to be directly responsible for its success. Lawyers in these companies are provided a secure and stable work environment with world class infrastructure and progressive HR policies, where the opportunities for career enhancement are based solely on merit, like in any healthy corporate structure. Offshore legal services companies help motivated lawyers develop multiple layers of skills that go well beyond the application of their legal knowledge.

The application and integration of state-of-the-art technology gives lawyers an edge over their counterparts in conventional legal practice. Traditional geographic boundaries of client service are now passé, affording lawyers the enviable opportunity to demonstrate their professional skills in a global context as never before. Direct interaction with overseas clients on their laws lends a new dimension to lawyers' understanding of legal practice in other countries, not to mention an enhanced multicultural sensitivity and development of their communication skills, written and oral.

A systematic, process-driven approach to performing legal services, often requiring lawyers to work in teams with their peers, sharpens their people and time management skills. It is a fact that today lawyers in India manage global legal projects that have team sizes of more than 100 lawyers. The variety of services being currently performed and other emergent specialised areas of legal service continue to increase the repertoire of lateral skills that India's lawyers now to bring to bear for their world-wide clients.

The offshore legal services industry is poised for enormous growth. Much of this appears in the news media and is heard at various seminars and conferences around the country. Exponential projections of industry estimates compete for hyperbole with the intensity perhaps not dissimilar to that of a fortune teller's gaze into a crystal ball. Even so, it is accurate to say that credible players in this industry have collectively just scratched the surface of the immense potential that lies ahead.

As a lawyer looking to be part of an exciting and promising future, a career as a global legal professional is a compelling option that is here to stay.

Move to check misconduct of lawyers, judges gains momentum

From DNA INDIA

NEW DELHI: The Union Law Ministry's initiative to check incidents of professional misconduct involving High Court judges and lawyers, who allegedly appear in courts where their relative judges are posted, appears to have gained momentum with some bar associations filing reports on the issue in the Bar Council of India here.

Among the early birds is the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association (RHCBA), Jaipur, which has identified 19 high court judges and 40 advocates allegedly involved inprofessional misconduct.

Secretary of RHCBA Vibhuti Bhushan Sharma, in his report, has said, "We believe in transparency in the justice delivery system and hope that the efforts of the BCI will go a long way to improve the situation."

In Delhi, however, the preparation of such a list is likely to take some more time. Delhi High Court Bar Association president Amarjeet Singh Chandihok said, "We are awaiting replies...we will file a report in court."

Meanwhile, the Bar Council of India (BCI) is keeping a close watch on the situation after the ministry directed it on March 20 this year to ensure compliance of Rule 6 of the BCI which forbids advocates related to a judge from appearing in a court where the judge is posted.

"We had written letters to bar associations in all states about three months ago and are seized of the matter, said BCI member-secretary S Radhakrishnan, refusing to divulge any details till the data was compiled and presented before the Council.

The deputy Secretary of law ministry had written to the BCI after the issue was highlighted in Parliament by Uttar Pradesh MP Baleshwar Yadav.

He reportedly claimed that relatives of 131 High Court judges -- out of a total of 490 such judges in the country -- were appearing before them.

The matter caught the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who immediately directed the law ministry to look into the state of affairs.

Officials of the BCI said they were in constant touch with the state associations to finish the gigantic task and file a report with ministry at the earliest.