Without fear or favour - The Finale
Contributed by Rtr Harnniann
I was told by a very senior lawyer that there is a story behind the pocket at the back of a lawyer.
According to him, lawyers should render their service without first asking what the reward shall be. Once they have performed their duties, the lawyers will just turn their back and the client would put things like apple, bread etc into the pocket behind as payment to the lawyers. The idea is that the lawyer shall not argue on what he/she shall receive in return.
I guess that answered the question I posed earlier: should I expect an appreciative client?
The real incident I have narrated through part 2 to 4 of this article, though nothing bizarre, gives a very true account of the sort of dilemma faced by litigators.
I understand that as time passes by, I will gain more experience in legal practice (provided I am still in it) and my skill will be sharpened but my feelings too will be numbed. You are right to assume that an experienced trial lawyer would not have written down the real story I have told you for to them, it was just another event incidental to practice, too common to mention.
Going back to the incident I have yet to complete.
I wrote a lengthy reply to the letter written by my opponent, too lengthy in fact for me to reproduce it here. Suffice to say that, as you would have correctly guessed so, I firmly denied that I have not extended professional courtesy to my fellow opponent. I have waited for him once when the matter was called up in open court at 9.30am, haven’t I?
He did not reply my letter, so I thought the matter had been laid to rest. Life goes on.
Many days later, I received an application for stay of execution (meaning to prevent us from enforcing the judgment against the Defendant pending the decision of the appeal to High Court). It was not all surprising that the Defendant would apply for stay of execution, but the out of the ordinary thing was the reason for stay of execution, the opponent put it, was because I did not honour my words and wait for him. Since he had suffered injustice, my opponent said in his affidavit that it constitutes a “special circumstances” for the court to grant a stay of execution.
I have yet to reply his baseless and irrelevant accusations, but I am about to. Which means, what I initially thought was a closed chapter would have to be revisited. Both counsels would have to throw accusations at each other in open court on who was the untrustworthy which has nothing to do with the case we are handling i.e. a case for debt recovery.
Oh, this is a life of a lawyer, always surrounded by hostility and confrontation.
Lloyd had once said I have confused my personal life with my professional life: he was not totally wrong.
p/s: This BLOG had been inactive for a short period of time for the members need time to digest the facts of life before coming out with good articles. Stay tuned to this BLOG for the best things in life go to those who can wait. Thanks for the support of everyone to make this BLOG meaningful.
I was told by a very senior lawyer that there is a story behind the pocket at the back of a lawyer.
According to him, lawyers should render their service without first asking what the reward shall be. Once they have performed their duties, the lawyers will just turn their back and the client would put things like apple, bread etc into the pocket behind as payment to the lawyers. The idea is that the lawyer shall not argue on what he/she shall receive in return.
I guess that answered the question I posed earlier: should I expect an appreciative client?
The real incident I have narrated through part 2 to 4 of this article, though nothing bizarre, gives a very true account of the sort of dilemma faced by litigators.
I understand that as time passes by, I will gain more experience in legal practice (provided I am still in it) and my skill will be sharpened but my feelings too will be numbed. You are right to assume that an experienced trial lawyer would not have written down the real story I have told you for to them, it was just another event incidental to practice, too common to mention.
Going back to the incident I have yet to complete.
I wrote a lengthy reply to the letter written by my opponent, too lengthy in fact for me to reproduce it here. Suffice to say that, as you would have correctly guessed so, I firmly denied that I have not extended professional courtesy to my fellow opponent. I have waited for him once when the matter was called up in open court at 9.30am, haven’t I?
He did not reply my letter, so I thought the matter had been laid to rest. Life goes on.
Many days later, I received an application for stay of execution (meaning to prevent us from enforcing the judgment against the Defendant pending the decision of the appeal to High Court). It was not all surprising that the Defendant would apply for stay of execution, but the out of the ordinary thing was the reason for stay of execution, the opponent put it, was because I did not honour my words and wait for him. Since he had suffered injustice, my opponent said in his affidavit that it constitutes a “special circumstances” for the court to grant a stay of execution.
I have yet to reply his baseless and irrelevant accusations, but I am about to. Which means, what I initially thought was a closed chapter would have to be revisited. Both counsels would have to throw accusations at each other in open court on who was the untrustworthy which has nothing to do with the case we are handling i.e. a case for debt recovery.
Oh, this is a life of a lawyer, always surrounded by hostility and confrontation.
Lloyd had once said I have confused my personal life with my professional life: he was not totally wrong.
p/s: This BLOG had been inactive for a short period of time for the members need time to digest the facts of life before coming out with good articles. Stay tuned to this BLOG for the best things in life go to those who can wait. Thanks for the support of everyone to make this BLOG meaningful.
posted by harnniann at 7:12 pm
4 Comments:
Finally..
All the best...
I am sure that the judge will be able to ascertain who is at fault in this case. The opponent is just trying hard to delay everything and do what he could possibly (or perhaps logically) do to :
1) avoid scolding from his clients
2)to delay the judgment
3)to justify his WRONG
Based on the facts that you have given, there is nothing for you to worry about...hmm, perhaps the hassle of writing to the court and all this time wasting of explaining is quite stressful at times...What to do? Its part and parcel of the profession ;)
so, the finale is just an introduction to another new chapter!
i hope that your opponent will stop at that AND his client is not as aggresive as him, or else your next chapter will begins with "one fresh morning, i woke up and received a letter from Discplinary Board asking me to show cause..." haha
come back to legal aspect of your fren's stay application, i do not think his ground constitutes special circumstances for should the court rules in favour of him, it would open to floodgates cos all lawyers behave like this including your oppponent himself if being given the opportunity.
Dear Siew Yee,
I hope I need not write "Without Fear or Favour--Season 2" based on my experience with Disciplinary Board.
Thanks for the "Open Floodgates" argument. I will record it down and definitely use it during the hearing on 8-9-2006.
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