A lawyer is an “officer of the court” and is expected to assist the court in proper delivery of justice, and that too in a timely manner. The wheels of justice roll majestically, sometimes at a very slow pace, and sometimes at lightning speed. The lawyers are supposed to adjust themselves with the pace, be well-prepared and provide their ablest services effectively so as to enable the judges to thrash out the arguments made by the counsel for both the sides, and arrive at a logical, reasonable, fair, just, and equitable decision.

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For certain reasons, some lawyers feel that the profession is torturous, a drudgery and extremely painful. Well, it is a matter of one’s own sweet will and choice. Whether highly successful or not, a lawyer’s work is not a bed of roses. No one compels a member of the Bar to continue practising. It is purely voluntary and definitely requires hard work, stamina, an alert mind, alacrity, nimbleness and above all being a “possibility thinker”.

There are often circumstances when a client rushes to a lawyer late in the night for a filing an urgent petition seeking an immediate injunction. Most of the well-placed lawyers have the mental bandwidth and the wherewithal to prepare it by the morning, file it, and get the desired order from the court by lunch-time. This is precisely the ability of good lawyers which differentiates them and makes them sought-after; and, one very well understands that the fees they can command, undoubtedly depends on this practical ability, according to the principle of demand and supply as understood in basic Economics.

Many a time, successful and famous lawyers do bite more than they can chew and for very obvious reasons – usually a paucity of time – they are not able to devote time and attention to the briefs they are holding. In such a situation, “face value” plays an important role in getting adjournments and “mentioning” for convenience, and sometimes making unusual requests, which may tantamount to holding the court to ransom. This is unacceptable, howsoever senior and successful a lawyer maybe.

Most of the lawyers practising in the lower courts have to rough it out for six days in a week, and that too without air conditioning and other facilities which are taken for granted in higher courts. Several court buildings, thanks to the overzealous architects squandering public money, have been designed to look aesthetically appealing, without taking into account users’ convenience. Lawyers have to make do with such impractical layout of the buildings.

My father, who was a very senior lawyer in Lucknow – not a designated senior advocate as he practised in the district court, but several judges and designated senior advocates touched his feet – used to daily sprint from one courtroom to another, including the then newly constructed multi-storeyed building, six days a week, but never complained the profession being torturous. It is often said that “vakalat budhape mein jawan hoti hai”, which means the legal practise attains youth in a lawyer’s old age. He always remained young, both by body and mind.   

Compare the lawyers who are lamenting overload of work to doctors, especially surgeons, who are often working round the clock, and as they attain seniority and more experience, their services are required more and more by the patients. They do not have the luxury of saying no. And, it is quite natural that for the societal good, professionals with higher expertise and experience make themselves available for a longish period of time, without complaining. After all, life is ephemeral.

There are so many persons who are “retired but not tired” and post-retirement, they keep working in one capacity or the other, either as a freelance professional – irrespective of being a judge, an engineer, a bureaucrat, a teacher, a doctor, etc. while in service – or by joining any organisation, whether paid or gratis.

Anyone who is tired may simply retire.

The author is a professor at IIM-A, akagarwal@iima.ac.in