Victory! My radical and slightly far-fetched (although I say so myself) arguments under SICA worked and I won the case! The judge passed an order stating that Section 22 of SICA would only be applicable in execution proceedings against a sick company's properties and not against directors of the company or against any other action. and with such observations, the execution proceedings could go on.

I think this is a situation where you know that the argument you have is not really valid but no harm using it as you have nothing else in your favour - and lo and behold, it works.

Its been a long and tiring day - literally running in the court corridors. Fun, but thoroughly exhausted.

Excitement

Today was exciting. I had a case posted for final hearing, which I thought was quite a weak case and I had virtually no legal grounds in my defence. This was a petition seeking suspension of execution proceedings under Section 22 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Protection) Act ("SICA") against a company that had a reference pending with the BIFR. My client had initiated execution proceedings against the company, and there was no getting away from the clutches of Section 22. Section 22 was very clear - all proceedings for execution against the company's properties ought to be suspended until proceedings before BIFR are concluded.

I was quite prepared to give up on the matter, but just as I was leaving office and doing my final reading of the commentary I came across a judgement of the Madras High Court which held that the ban on continuation of legal proceedings against the sick company did not offer any protection to the directors of the company, against whom proceedings could be carried on. And in my case, execution court had initiated proceedings against the Director of the company! So I had a wee bit of a legal argument there. I was not sure how the judge would receive it. Came to the high court and while I was waiting, I met with an old friend and senior from college, Subramanya, who is absolutely wonderful at thrashing out ideas. While we were waiting in the corridors, we discussed the Madras High Court judgement threadbare, read Section 22 of SICA till I could recite it backwards, read up the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Code and viola, we had quite a decent legal response - he gave me the confidence that my argument that Section 22 would not apply to directors of a company was worth a shot!

When the case came up for hearing after lunch (during which time I had the chance to look up a few more judgments), the Petitioner's counsel was all set to have the petition allowed in his favour. But when I argued on my new legal point and submitted all my judgments, the judge was a bit taken aback and so was the opposing counsel - and when I read through the judgments the judge was completely on my side! In a few minutes the opposing counsel was making all kinds of excuses for an adjournment from saying that he would make an application for an amendment to saying that the petition was drafted in a hurry and therefore he needed time to respond, with the judge having a hearty laugh. Nevertheless the case was adjourned to Monday. Monday is another day and we'll never know what will happen. But the excitement of suddenly finding a toehold of an argument, and then building it up to give you a strong legal ground from a point where you feel you have absolutely no case, is just something else. This is why I love being a lawyer!

And in the corridors of the Karnataka High Court, its great that you bump into friends and colleagues who will argue with you and test you on your new found arguments, helping you to strengthen it - there is no gender angle at play, and its a real camaraderie and a shared passion for the law that makes your day.

taking things lightly

I sometimes get so mad when I see young litigating lawyers (by 'young' I mean those just out of law school or with just one or two years of experience at the bar) who take court appearances so lightly. Whether it is preparing for arguments for an interlocutory application, for final arguments preparing for cross-examination of a witness, I have seen young lawyers completely unfazed without doing much preparation. Its true that very often they may not be the ones doing the arguments or the cross-examination, but that does not mean that one is not prepared - with all the facts, case-law and of course the questions, just in case the senior lawyer is held up and the judge is just not willing to give you an adjournment. I used to be nervous as hell before any important court hearing, and even today although I don't get nervous, I still get worked up enough to stay up and prepare.

But now I see that a lot of lawyers do not really take any trouble to prepare perhaps because they do not think that they will be required to argue the matter and that their senior would be around to save them from any sticky situation! In fact some of my most exciting moments in court in my first years of practice were when I was asked to argue when the senior lawyers were not available and I would wait for those opportunities.

On the other hand I have also seen a lot of senior and older lawyers also taking things very easy and not really taking the time to read the file, talking to the clients to know the real facts and to prepare their arguments and evidence. In the city civil courts in Bangalore I have often seen very senior lawyers conduct cross-examination of witnesses impromptu and just using the affidavits filed by the witnesses. It may be that they are doing this on an everyday basis and they get really good at it, but it is also a danger that one must be wary of.

As for me, I have an important cross-examination to do for tomorrow and a hearing at the high court. Am I prepared enough? Not as much as I would have liked to, but I still have the whole night and the morning hours.

starting this blog

Finally got down to starting a blog after thinking about it for so long. I have had so many random and serious thoughts about my practice, my work and my experiences at the bar that desperately needed to be written down and maybe shared. So here it is!