Professional Ethics, Advocacy Skills and Practical Procedure
Professional Ethics, Advocacy Skills and Practical Procedure tests the standards of the Company Secretaries Act 1980 and the practical conduct of a case. Ethics is not a separate subject from advocacy; it governs how a representative prepares, advises and appears.
Ethical core
- Confidentiality: client information must not be disclosed without consent or legal compulsion.
- Conflict of interest: decline or disclose a matter where the interests of two clients conflict.
- Integrity of documents: never sign, backdate or certify a document known to be false. First and Second Schedule misconduct under the Company Secretaries Act 1980 can follow.
- Fees and advertising: agree fees clearly and avoid improper advertisement or solicitation.
Advocacy skills
Build a case theory, prepare a chronology, identify the issues and the relief. Examination-in-chief brings out admissible facts; cross-examination tests the opponent’s version; re-examination repairs damage. Arguments should move from facts to law to relief, with citations to the record and authorities. Practical procedure includes limitation, court fees, filing, service, listing, vakalatnama and written submissions.
Worked example
A client asks the company secretary to sign minutes of a board meeting that was never held and to date them last month. The correct response is to refuse, explain that Section 118 of the Companies Act 2013 requires minutes of actual proceedings and that false certification invites professional misconduct, and offer to convene a valid meeting with proper notice. The reasoning is that the record must reflect what occurred; a fabricated minute exposes the client and the professional to penal and disciplinary consequences.
Traps
Signing a false certificate; acting for both sides without disclosure; disclosing confidential information; making submissions unsupported by the record; and missing a limitation period while preparing the merits.