The duties of an advocate are four pronged; duty to his profession,
duty to his client, duty to the court, and duty to the administration of
justice.
The most cardinal of his duty are to the court and the administration
of justice. This is attributed to the fact that an advocate is an officer of
the court. In that light as being an officer of the court he has to be
honest and candour to the court. This duty cannot be underscored
since the system of justice adopted by the courts is the adversarial.
In an adversarial system, the judicial officer presiding over the matter
is primarily an umpire, who hears the facts presented, the issues of
law raised, and the evidence produced and adduced to prove their
case, by the litigants in the case. It from these, that the presiding
judicial officer can make a decision in the case. A judicial officer
cannot make an independent judicial sound decision without relaying
on the cases presented by the counsels.
In making their decision, therefore, the judicial officer relays on the
honesty and candour of the advocate presenting the matter before
the court. This is due to the fact the counsel is an officer of the court.
Therefore, should counsel misleading, the court by distorting or
concealing information, they shall be in breach of their duty, and
consequently be in contempt of court.
Tied to his duty to the court, counsel has another intertwining duty to
the administration of justice. As much as he respresents his client’s
case his always must bear in mind that the goals of justice must be
met and administered, and by misleading the court he is in breach of
this duty. Hence, he consequently makes the court an ‘accomplice’ in
This study source was downloaded by 100000858656319 from CourseHero.com on 03-18-2023 14:40:05 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/63854464/The-duties-of-an-advocate-doc/
duty to his client, duty to the court, and duty to the administration of
justice.
The most cardinal of his duty are to the court and the administration
of justice. This is attributed to the fact that an advocate is an officer of
the court. In that light as being an officer of the court he has to be
honest and candour to the court. This duty cannot be underscored
since the system of justice adopted by the courts is the adversarial.
In an adversarial system, the judicial officer presiding over the matter
is primarily an umpire, who hears the facts presented, the issues of
law raised, and the evidence produced and adduced to prove their
case, by the litigants in the case. It from these, that the presiding
judicial officer can make a decision in the case. A judicial officer
cannot make an independent judicial sound decision without relaying
on the cases presented by the counsels.
In making their decision, therefore, the judicial officer relays on the
honesty and candour of the advocate presenting the matter before
the court. This is due to the fact the counsel is an officer of the court.
Therefore, should counsel misleading, the court by distorting or
concealing information, they shall be in breach of their duty, and
consequently be in contempt of court.
Tied to his duty to the court, counsel has another intertwining duty to
the administration of justice. As much as he respresents his client’s
case his always must bear in mind that the goals of justice must be
met and administered, and by misleading the court he is in breach of
this duty. Hence, he consequently makes the court an ‘accomplice’ in
This study source was downloaded by 100000858656319 from CourseHero.com on 03-18-2023 14:40:05 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/63854464/The-duties-of-an-advocate-doc/
