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Ch 7. How to find and manage a lawyer?
Should you expect an advocate to be like a doctor?
Many people are under the impression that an advocate is a professional just like a doctor, and they trust that they will get the same good advice as they get from a doctor.
Nothing could be more endangering to results in your legal cases than believing in this lawyer-would-be-like-a-doctor stuff. But people have actually told me this even after NOT getting good service from their advocate.
Also, there are many more men who are searching for good, honest, professional lawyer to handle their cases since they are dissatisfied with their existing lawyer.
There are also many who have changed few lawyers already over the years in the hope that the new lawyer will give them better results but that doesn't seem to be happening.
If you have been searching for a good lawyer, and unable to find any, maybe it's time to check whether the blame lies with lawyer alone, or with your own unrealistic expectations? But first I want to cover one point which I think goes seriously against lawyers as a professional group.
How to find a 'good' lawyer
I have mentioned the word 'good' in quotes, because the legal profession in India works in strange ways. Maybe it's because the judiciary itself not very responsive to public's needs, and that frustration tends to percolate down into the whole system.
In support of my assertion, here is an email of a person who wanted to know answer to a simple question, and he had asked this question to 4 lawyers:
Different lawyers are giving different opinions - one said 30 days from date of order, another said 30 days from date of receiving certified order copy, another said 90 days and another one said 1 year.
So when 4 lawyers give different answers to a question which should be a simple matter of checking up a manual like Code of Civil Procedure, and should be an automatic thing for any practising advocate, what chance do we have of finding a 'good' and 'professional' lawyer? I rest my case stating that if this person had trust on his own lawyer, he wouldn't have needed to ask 3 others!
I will leave this question open without giving my own view on it, so it can probably achieve the effect what only a Zen story can, and move on to the practical aspect of how to find a lawyer to handle your DV or CrPC 125 case.
A lawyer representing a husband (that's you) in a matrimony related case in India will be only as good depending on how much of the following you have done.
Basic homework, preparing by reading laws, important judgments
How good a homework you have done in reading up basic laws of CrPC 125, DV Act, 498a arrest/acquittal rates, and doing homework to understand how the divorce industry works. Many people fail to do this very basic task because they expect their advocate or some men's rights activists to do these things and just provide them with ready to digest formulas or pills which can take away the persistent headache and deliver peace! It is no wonder that the kind of formulas suggested by lawyers like send legal notice to wife, file Section 9/RCR, file divorce get them into bigger soup like DV, 498a, divorce cases filed by wife which they are totally unprepared to handle. Instead of a quick solution, they get long term cases to handle.
Having realistic expectations
Do you have realistic expectations and not living in a fantasy land. I quote just 2 of the real life examples where the lawyer has promised a fantasy and the client has bought it all.
Father of husband facing 498a soon: "The advocate said that he can get my son divorce within 1 year".
Husband having 498a case already: "My advocate said that if we go to high court, I can fix your situation within 3 months".
Believing any of the above statements is in similar category of 'investing' money with someone who promises to double it within 6 months. Falling for "divorce within one year" lies in the same category. Even in 21st century when people have access to latest information on their finger tips, people fall for things like email prize scams, Nigerian scams and what not. There's a saying: "there's a sucker born every minute". Do you want to be that sucker?
Taking a clear stand on your matrimonial problems
Have you taken a stand or a strategy about how you want to handle your case? To give an example of what could be just the opposite of taking a stand, I give summary of an email from a 'victim' facing multiple cases of divorce, 498A etc. He has himself listed these 4 options under consideration, which I have edited to make it easier to read.
File perjury even before the cross. He hopes that perjury will be considered and will it help me avoid alimony.
OPTION 2:
Take ex-parte divorce, but that would leave alimony and 498A cases running.
OPTION 3:
Don't do anything, Just keep taking dates.
OPTION 4:
Take stay from HC, stating that he wants marriage to continue.
Can anyone point out the contradictions and inconsistencies in above points? Talking about divorce in point 2, and about taking back wife in point 4! Option 1 seems to suggest he has something up his sleeve and wants to file perjury against wife, but option 3 seems to suggest he doesn't even know what to do!
Many people who complain about lawyer messing up the case, actually fall into category of the person above. They themselves have confusion in their mind, but instead of acknowledging it and then addressing it, they tend to jump from one technique to another. One day they are thinking about filing divorce on wife to put pressure on her, and next day they would be thinking about taking wife back so it may save them maintenance. With that kind of approach, a lawyer will not know exactly what you want yourselves, and so it is quite likely he may take you for the ride and collect some fees, till the time you get frustrated from him and switch to another lawyer!
Are you in touch with other men facing similar issues?
This may be considered an optional step, but barring a few self-starter folks, for most others it may be necessary at least in the beginning 1-1.5 years of the cases.
Do you want to know how good or bad your lawyer is working out for you? Basically this is about creating a feedback loop. To know this is only possible by interacting with other men facing same issues, which will let you know what to expect and if your lawyer is doing something other than usual. But that is such a no-no for many people who are hell bent on proving innocence (I call it The Innocence Project) because they believe that proving innocence is the desirable goal, when the law already says that one is innocent until proven guilty. Mostly they are cracking up in the very initial stages of their cases itself because they will fall for a trap called solution-within-1-year-or-6-months by a quick-fixer-lawyer and when that doesn't happen, they don't have any other option to fall back upon. The real reason seems to be that people expect that they haven't done anything wrong, so somehow they should be able to get rid of all cases, and get their divorce. Sorry brother, there are millions of other Indians standing patiently in front of you in that queue, in our courts. Getting faster justice for you would be putting your case ahead of someone else's, and that is not how things work.
If you have considered all of the above points and gave them the focus they need, finding a lawyer is as simple as talking to a few of them and going with one who seems to understand your strategy/plan and is willing to execute it that way. Also make sure that he/she is ok with the communication and other administrative aspects as given in next section about managing and communication with lawyer.
<< Prev Ch 6. Proceedings and summons in CrPC 125, DV Act
Next >> Ch 7-1. Setting expectations, Managing your advocate, handling communication