Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa on Saturday said there was a time when the legal profession used to enjoy a great respect. Speaking at a private law college, CJP said although the legal community in Pakistan earned more respect as they championed a very big cause of independence of judiciary. However, he regretted that the story after all that was not all that rosy.
Chief Justice said divinity, law and medicine were generally considered to be noblest of all professions. He said down the ages these professions had been looked up with reverence because of the activity they indulged in. In divinity, he said, holy personages treated souls of people, doctors dealt with the body of individuals but on the other hands the lawyers dealt with the ailments of a society ranging from economic criminal, property issues civil rights.
So the range of activities the lawyers indulged in was far bigger than the range of activities indulged in the other two noble professions, added the chief justice. He said the holy personages and doctors treated one person at a time while a lawyer served rights of a whole society by picking up a fight for his client, which was a far much nobler cause.
The chief justice also shared with the audience memories of his childhood when he witnessed tremendous respect for lawyers and the judges. Chief Justice Khosa however advised the law students to have command over history, mathematics and literature to become a good lawyer. He said in the current age a lawyer needed to have a much more well-rounded personality as he was now supposed to deal with multiple statutes and other disciplines in courts.