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CHAPTER III ADMISSION AND ENROLMENT OF ADVOCATES

Section 16: Senior and other advocates

The Advocates Act, 1961

(1) There shall be two classes of advocates, namely, senior advocates and other advocates.

(2) An advocate may, with his consent, be designated as senior advocate if the Supreme Court or a High Court is of opinion that by virtue of his ability, 1[standing at the Bar or special knowledge or experience in law] he is deserving of such distinction.

(3) Senior advocates shall, in the matter of their practice, be subject to such restrictions as the Bar Council of India may, in the interests of the legal profession, prescribe.

(4) An advocate of the Supreme Court who was a senior advocate of that Court immediately before the appointed day shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a senior advocate:

2[Provided that where any such senior advocate makes an application before the 31st December, 1965 to the Bar Council maintaining the roll in which his name has been entered that he does not desire to continue as a senior advocate, the Bar Council may grant the application and the roll shall be altered accordingly.]

Footnotes in the official text

  1. 1.Subs. by s. 13, ibid., for “experience and standing at the Bar” (w.e.f. 31-1-1974).
  2. 2.Ins. by Act 21 of 1964, s. 8 (w.e.f. 16-5-1964).

Questions on this section

1 question in 1 of our papers cite Section 16. Try these from the free papers:

  1. 1. With reference to Jitender @ Kalla v. State (NCT of Delhi) (three-Judge Bench, 13 May 2025) on the designation of Senior Advocates under Section 16(2) of the Advocates Act, 1961, consider the following statements: 1. The point-based assessment by a Permanent Committee laid down in Indira Jaising v. Supreme Court of India (2017) is not to be implemented. 2. The decision to designate is to be taken by the Full Court, by a democratic method of voting if consensus is not reached. 3. An advocate can be designated only on his own application, and the Full Court cannot confer designation without one. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Practise questions on Professional Ethics & BCI Rules