Indian legal fraternity celebrates Advocate’s Day on 03 December, the birth anniversary of Dr. Rajendra Prasad. He was the first President of India and an eminent lawyer.
Lawyers are professionals who practice law. For quite many in this profession, law it is a lucrative business. For a few, it is a chance to serve the nation, to defend the underdog and keep sanity and justice alive.
Patrick Murray speaks about lawyers: “A Lawyer will do anything to win a case, sometimes he will even tell the truth.” Some say, lawyers are devil’s advocates. Many lawyers think that, by profession, they are to defend anyone, even the devil. And they get paid for it, be sure.
Some Indian lawyers’ rates go sky-high, running into lacs. The highest paid Advocate in India is Ram Jethmalani whose rate is anything up to 25 lacs. Next in the ladder is Kapil Sibal with 8-16 lacs. Fali Sam Nariman’s is 8-15 lacs. Harish Salve’s rate is up to15lacs. Soli Jahangir Sorabjee’s rate was up to 15 lacs. He died in April 2021.
Kasava Parasaran, a trustee of Ram Janambhoomi Trust, is next with 8-15lacs. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, MP’s rate is up to 11 lacs, while K K Venugopal’s is up to 7.5 lacs. Mukul Rohtagi’s is 10 lacs while that of Gopal Subramaniam is anything up to 15 lacs.
The funny part of it is that there is no fixed fee structure for any advocate. Fee is often extracted from clients. Many poor clients get fleeced once they are in the court premises. One wonders how many of the highly paid lawyers help poor clients in government’s free legal aid cases.