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.