Bar Council of Kerala initiates action against lawyer for advertising on social media

The Bar Council of Kerala (BCK) has issued a show cause notice to advocate Happymon Babu over a promotional video uploaded on social media, which purportedly advertised his legal services..The BCK notice pointed out that apart from being a violation of the Bar Council of India Rules and the Advocates Act, 1961, it also violates the recent directives issued by the Bar Council of India (BCI) which stated that any form of online promotion by advocates constitutes a violation of professional ethics and decorum.The BCK has directed Babu to submit a written explanation within 15 days, responding to the allegations and showing cause as to why disciplinary action should not be initiated against him..The video in question shows a woman advising those embroiled in matrimonial cases, property disputes, criminal cases, etc., to contact Happymon Babu for his legal services.Advocate Babu, however, has denied making or sharing the video. Speaking to Bar and Bench, he stated that the video was made by an online PR agency that had reached out to him on social media to do a collaboration. He said that the video was made using AI and that it was uploaded by the agency without his knowledge as a story on Instagram. It was meant to be a sample of what their collaboration would look like if Babu agreed to it. He said that he immediately asked the PR firm to take the video down but that it had been downloaded and shared in lawyer groups on WhatsApp by then.In a written statement to Bar and Bench, Babu said,"As an independent Advocate with around 3 years of active practice arguing before Honourable High Court of Kerala and District courts all over Kerala I have never advertised or done any marketing strategy till date. All my cases come either by goodwill generated by winning cases, contacts, or references. This incident, I presume (what happened) is that as my Instagram and Facebook profiles have a good viewership. There are numerous content creation pages sending their creative AI videos/chatgpt /digital visiting cards, etc. asking to collaborate which I have always politely denied. I don't remember in fact which page it was published or (if) they tagged me, but I did not at any time publish it on any of my pages. It just got my attention only when it was created or downloaded by someone and spread across lawyer groups.".Babu added that political rivalry following this year's Ernakulam Bar Association election, in which Babu contested, might have contributed to other lawyers spreading the video. Babu has also not ruled out that the video may have been created by someone with malicious intent. "This has been an unfortunate event, and I declare I will take extra care to ensure such acts never occur and I respect the dignity of this noble profession and will be passionate to uphold it," Babu said. .The issue of lawyers soliciting work or promoting their work on social media has been cropping up frequently of late. In March this year, the Bar Council of India strongly condemned and issued a strict warning against the trend. In June, the Bar Council of Kerala issued a show cause notice to newly enrolled advocate Mohammed Fayiz for a video he made of his enrollment which included visuals of a High Court judge's official vehicle and number plate.Just last month, the Bar Council of Delhi issued a warning to lawyers who violate professional ethics by promoting themselves on social media and digital platforms.