Can an Advocate on Record Use Different Styles of Writing Names before the Court?

 

Introduction

 

Today we will discuss a small yet an interesting judgment by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of “Advocate on Record Includes a Proprietary Firm etc.” In this case, the moot question was: -

 

“Whether an Advocate on Record can have entry in Advocate On Record register in the form of his style of carrying on profession i.e. instead of “Siddharth Murarka” as “Law Chambers of Siddharth Murarka”?”

 

Important Legal Provisions

 

Order IV Supreme Court Rules, 2013 – Advocates

 

Rule 13(1) – An advocate-on-record or a firm of advocates may employ one or more clerks to attend the registry for presenting or receiving any papers on behalf of the said advocate or firm of advocates…

 

Rule 22 – Two or more advocates on record may enter into a partnership with each other, and any partner may act in the name of the partnership provided that the partnership is registered with the Registrar…..

 

Rule 23 – Two or more advocates not being senior advocates or advocates on record, may enter into partnership and subject to the provision contained in rule 1(b), any one of them may appear in any cause or matter before the Court in the name of the partnership.

 

Rule 1(b) – No advocate other than the Advocate-on-Record for a party shall appear, plead and address the Court in a matter unless he is instructed by the Advocate-on-Record or permitted by the Court.

 

Reasoning by the Court

 

It was observed by the Court that: -

 

1. The Supreme Court of India on being established under Article 124 of the Constitution of India framed its Rules in exercise of powers conferred by Article 145 of the Constitution. Such Rules owe their history to the Federal Court Act, 1941 and the Government of India Act.

 

2. If the partnership firm can be registered and operated, it may also be permitted to do as a Sole Proprietor. However, if different styles of writing names are to be permitted for Advocates on Record, that can only by an exercise to amend the Rules since legal profession is not a business but a profession.

 

3. The expression “Law Chambers” has a history from England and also in India because we borrowed a considerable jurisprudence from England where it is a reference to a particular lawyer in whose chambers people may be working and carrying on the legal practice. Effectively this style only records the practice of the chamber which is a sole proprietorship.

 

Held

 

Upon cumulative consideration of the facts, the Court held that that writing “Law Chambers of Siddharth Murarka, Sole Proprietor Siddharth Rajkumar Murarka, Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India AOR NO. 2151, M: 9324175774/1” is permissible style of putting on the letter head and in the Vakalatnama.

 

Concluding Remarks

 

The issue involved in the present case is a problem that is faced quite often by the Advocates. In Indian context, it would not be out of place to say that the functioning of a law office/chamber is such that most of the work is being done in the name of one person only to whom that chamber, or office belongs. The juniors or the associates working in a law office/chamber often face difficulty before the Registry, the Clients and sometimes the Courts, in explaining their footing and identity. The practice of writing the name of the Law Chambers would strengthen the role of juniors and associates who in fact are the backbone of any law office/chamber. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in this case empathetically considered the plight of the Petitioner, who is also an advocate, and showed a large heart by permitting him to do something as a matter of right rather than denying the same to him on the ground of procedural technicalities.