Criminal Practice as a Young Advocate: Bail Work and the Sessions Courts in Faisalabad
Criminal practice is where many young advocates first stand up and speak in court. Bail matters come up every day and they are urgent. A senior with a busy criminal practice needs someone to read files, draft petitions and wait for the case to be called.
It is also demanding work. A person's liberty depends on how carefully you read a First Information Report and how honestly you present it. This guide explains which courts you will work in and what bail work involves. It also covers a typical day at the district courts in Faisalabad and how to start well as a junior advocate.
Where criminal practice happens
Criminal work for a new advocate is mostly district-level work. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 requires the provincial government to establish a Court of Session for every sessions division. It also allows the appointment of Additional Sessions Judges and Assistant Sessions Judges. Most of your early appearances will be before these courts and before judicial magistrates.
Judicial magistrates. Remand hearings, many post-arrest bail petitions and the trial of less serious offenses take place here.
Sessions Judge and Additional Sessions Judges. Bail petitions in serious cases, pre-arrest bail, bail after a magistrate's refusal and the trial of grave offenses.
The Lahore High Court. Bail petitions after refusal by the sessions court, along with appeals and other matters.
Police stations and prosecution offices. Not courts, but you will spend real time obtaining copies, following up on reports and checking the status of investigations.
The Lahore High Court sits at its principal seat in Lahore, with benches at Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur. High Court criminal work from Faisalabad is therefore usually taken to Lahore. As a junior, you will usually be asked to prepare the file and travel with your senior before you appear on your own.
The bail work juniors actually do
Bail is the bread and butter of a young criminal lawyer. The law sits in Chapter XXXIX of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and bail in criminal cases turns mainly on three sections. You do not need to recite them, but you must know which one you are invoking and why.
Bailable offenses (section 496). Where the offense is bailable, release is the norm. The work is usually about arranging the bond and surety quickly.
Post-arrest bail in non-bailable offenses (section 497). This is the most common petition. The court weighs the material against the accused, including whether the offense falls within the prohibitory clause.
Pre-arrest bail (section 498). The High Court and the Court of Session have power to direct that a person be admitted to bail. Courts treat protection before arrest as an extraordinary relief and expect grounds such as mala fide or an ulterior motive behind the case.
Cancellation of bail (section 497(5)). You may act for a complainant who wants bail cancelled. This teaches you to read the same record from the other side.
Bonds and sureties. After bail is granted, someone must prepare the bail bonds and see that the surety documents are verified. Juniors usually handle this.
What preparing a bail petition involves
A bail petition is short, but the preparation behind it is not. A good one is built from the record, not from what the client's family says in the corridor.
Get the FIR. Read it line by line. Note the date and time of the occurrence, the delay in reporting, the role given to your client and the offenses mentioned.
Collect the police record. This may include the recovery memo, the medical report, the report under section 173 if it has been submitted, and any earlier orders.
Check the history. Find out whether an earlier bail petition was filed, before which court, and what happened to it. Hiding a previous petition damages your credibility immediately.
Identify the grounds. Common grounds include a case needing further inquiry, a role that is general rather than specific, an unexplained delay, or prolonged detention. Each ground must point to something in the record.
Draft plainly. State the facts briefly, set out the grounds in numbered paragraphs and attach legible copies. Judges hear many petitions in a morning, so clarity helps your client.
A day at the district courts
The day starts early. Criminal courts list bail petitions, remand hearings and trial dates on the same morning. You will check the cause list, find out where your cases stand and move between courtrooms while watching for the call.
Waiting is part of the job. Use it to reread the file, note the questions the judge is likely to ask and confirm that the prosecution has the police record in court. When the case is called, the hearing may last only a few minutes, so your points must be ready.
Afternoons usually move to chambers. You draft fresh petitions, prepare bonds for clients granted bail, update the diary and meet families who come in for news. Evenings often go to reading the next day's files and the judgments your senior has asked you to find.
Working with police files
Much of criminal practice depends on documents prepared by the police. You will learn to read the FIR, the investigation record and the final report under section 173 with a critical eye. Small details, such as timings, distances and the sequence of events, often matter more than long arguments.
You will also spend time getting copies, following up on whether a report has been filed and confirming the next date. Be polite and patient with court staff and police officials, and keep your own written record of every document you obtain. Never rely on a verbal assurance about what a file contains.
The ethics that cannot bend
Criminal practice puts pressure on your integrity more quickly than most areas of law. Families are anxious, complainants are angry and the temptation to cut corners is real. The canons of professional conduct in the Pakistan Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules, 1976 set out the professional legal ethics you must follow. On criminal work, they are clear.
Never influence witnesses. Do not contact prosecution witnesses to persuade, threaten or reward them. Leave witness matters to the proper process.
Never mislead the court. Do not misstate facts, hide an earlier bail order or quote a judgment for something it does not say.
Defend without judging. An advocate does not refuse to defend an accused person merely because of a personal opinion about guilt. Your job is to test the case against your client, honestly.
Keep promises realistic. Do not tell a family that bail is certain. Explain what may happen and leave the outcome to the court.
Skills, temperament and who it suits
Criminal work suits people who stay calm under pressure and enjoy fast, practical reasoning. You must read quickly, spot weaknesses in a record and explain them in a few clear sentences. Patience with long waits and difficult clients matters as much as legal knowledge.
It suits you less if you want predictable hours or prefer slow, document-heavy work. Earnings in the early years are usually modest and uneven, and they depend heavily on your senior and your own reputation. Over time, a junior who is reliable and honest with the court builds a name that brings in work.
How to get started
The usual route is to join the chambers of an advocate with a steady criminal practice. When choosing chambers, ask how often juniors draft bail petitions and whether you will appear in court yourself. A senior who lets you draft and then corrects your work teaches you more than one who only sends you to collect dates.
In your first months, attend bail hearings even when they are not your senior's cases. Listen to how experienced advocates open their arguments and how judges respond. Read recent bail judgments regularly, and keep notes of the grounds that succeed and the ones that fail.
Common mistakes young criminal lawyers make
Arguing without the record. Never argue a bail petition from the client's story alone. Read the FIR and police papers first.
Over-long petitions. A petition full of repetition hides your best point. Keep it short and specific.
Ignoring earlier proceedings. Failing to disclose or check a previous petition can sink the matter and your credibility.
Careless bonds and sureties. A client granted bail can stay in custody because a bond was wrongly filled. Check every detail.
Getting too close to the client's side of the dispute. Stay professional. Your duty to the court continues even when the family is pressing you.
Frequently asked questions
Can a new advocate file bail petitions on their own?
Yes, once you are enrolled you can appear before the district courts, and many juniors start with bail petitions. Most work under a senior at first, who reviews the petition before it is filed. Appearing in the Lahore High Court comes later, after separate admission as an advocate of the High Court.
What is the difference between pre-arrest and post-arrest bail?
Post-arrest bail is sought after the accused has been taken into custody, usually under section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Pre-arrest bail is sought before arrest under section 498, and courts treat it as an extraordinary relief. It usually requires grounds such as mala fide or an ulterior motive behind the case.
Is criminal practice a good choice for a legal career after LL.B?
It can be, if you are calm under pressure and comfortable with long court days. It gives early courtroom exposure and teaches you to read records closely. Earnings in the early years are usually modest and depend on the chambers you join and the reputation you build.
Criminal practice teaches you the profession faster than almost anything else. Bail work forces you to read carefully, argue briefly and stay honest under pressure. If you treat every petition as someone's liberty rather than another file, the skills and the reputation will follow.
About this guide: This guide was checked in October 2026 against the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (sections 9, 173, 496, 497 and 498) as published on Pakistan Code, the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, the canons of professional conduct in the Pakistan Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules, 1976, and published bail judgments on pre-arrest bail. Court arrangements and procedures can change, so confirm current requirements with the relevant court, the Punjab Bar Council or your senior before relying on them.
