In search of Dumbledore

FOR the cover of the latest edition of his popular book called Constitutional Law of Bangladesh, Mr. Mahmudul Islam, who is a former Attorney General of Bangladesh, chose a tastefully grim and grey picture of the Supreme Court building taken against the backdrop of an overcast sky. In his forewords to the edition, he mentions those dark clouds as he laments the present state of the constitution and how it is being practiced and applied.

The practice of law for a junior as a first generation lawyer can perhaps be compared to that of the travails of a stray puppy abandoned in the streets at birth. If it manages to survive, the puppy will not travel much, but will rather concentrate all its efforts into acclimatising and habituating itself with the surroundings of the street he was abandoned in. It will try to claw through bullies, ward off and avoid lurking dangers and meal through leftovers in a desperate attempt to, over time, be accepted by, ironically, the bullies among it's own species. Just as the abandoned puppy hopes in vain to find the caring shelter of a guardian, a junior lawyer desperately seeks the mentoring guidance of a senior. Many junior lawyers I know working under seniors are still scourging around for that elusive mentoring guidance.

For my part, I was not lucky enough to be anchored under a senior for the better portion of my life as a practicing lawyer. Perhaps because I as a first generation lawyer did not realise how big a role they play shaping a junior's professional and personal life. It naturally came to me in the beginning to regard my senior as merely my employer, until I slowly realised that they may mean so much more. 

In a candid session that I once had with Anisul Huq Sir, he told me that a senior not only sets your direction in your professional life from the get-go, but also leaves his footprints on how you go about that path for the rest of your life. That the senior and his practice lives in through his juniors, that he is in essence a reincarnation of the professional life of Shahid Suhrawardi who mentored his father being the Late Advocate Serajul Huq. That others who we know to be unscrupulous in their trades are still carrying out the lessons of practice that were laid down before them by their respective seniors. He told me that his success in politics is due to his success in the practice of law, and his success in politics shall never define his success in the practice of law. 

That candid session stayed with me. I could see an imprint of the few seniors I have worked with embedded in the way I think in a manner I did not see before. It also brought to the fore one of the only two regrets that I have over my professional life. That regret is that I never got an opportunity to work with Mahmudul Islam Sir yet.

The tales that I have heard about Mahmudul Islam Sir from all around are stuff that legendary folklore is made up of. I have, for instance, heard stories of him refusing to accept (and indeed, returning!) fees paid in excess of what his charges are by insistent clients. Such honour is above everything I have seen in the legal profession. The one time I wanted to hire him for a senior brief, I took his chamber's phone number off the net and called directly without any reference, expecting to fix up an appointment with Sir with an assistant or a clerk. I was bewildered for a second when Sir himself picked it up, and asked me about the case. After hearing it, he affectionately called me “bhai”, politely informed me that he does not take any High Court briefs as he has confined himself to practice in the Appellate Division only, and pleaded with me to seek another senior. After noting the disappointment in my voice, he spent another 3 minutes over the phone giving me directions about how to go about in the case, which bench to take it before and who to seek for further guidance. I was humbled by the time I put the phone down. He didn't need to do that.  Many seniors of his stature won't even have acknowledged me as a self-respecting human, much less a lawyer. 

Being the vociferous deviant from and passionate arguer against the traditional sole-practitioner style of legal practice, I have always regarded Sir to be the epitome of that style of practice. He makes me want to let my ideals and morals be my sole driving forces through the pathways of law. He makes me want to romanticise law and write lofty novels on the nobility of this trade, something that I firmly believe has been long dead. Hearing about his life is to me like dipping my head into and losing myself in Dumbledore's Pensieve. Through his work and books, he has left an indelible impression in every Bangladeshi lawyer's life, and through his ideals and morals, in many Bangladeshi's hearts. The silver linings in those black clouds have not disappeared. 

The writer is Barrister-at-Law and Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh.