Maverick G.

Pascual
L-150286

In one of my classes in college, we were asked to watch an old black and

white movie called 12 Angry Men. The movie was about 12 men who were tasked
with settling upon a verdict, where the accused is an eighteen year-old kid, whos
been charged with murdering his dad, and all of the jurors seem pretty convinced
that he did it. It barely takes them any time to vote for guilty when they enter the
jury room. But one holds out for a Not Guilty verdict and because of this, they cant
reach a unanimous vote in order to decide the case, which took most of their
precious time. Eventually, the juror who went for the Not Guilty vote was able to
convince the other eleven jurors, and they were able to save an innocent young man
from death penalty.

This movie is somehow relevant with legal ethics, even though the characters
of the movie were not lawyers. Our laws, jurisprudence and procedures are not
always moral. In certain cases, what is legal is not moral. For example, in the Revised
Penal Code, it is legal to kill the paramour and the spouse, if the innocent spouse
found them having carnal knowledge. Yes, the law tries to understand the pride and
circumstances that the innocent spouse may have, but for me personally, no matter
how shameful the act maybe, nothing will justify killing another person, except in
the act of self-defense.

Legal ethics is defined as the embodiment of all principles of morality and

refinement that should govern the conduct of every member of the bar. Having
knowledge of the law is a very powerful knowledge that a person can have, because
not only can it help bring justice to every individual, but it can also bring injustice, if
people were to abuse it. Legal ethics is the bridge between legality and morality
that guides the members of the bar to promote each and every ones rights to a fair
and efficient administration of justice.

In the code of Professional Responsibility, Rule 6.01 is a very good example

of the application of Legal Ethics, and it states, The primary duty of a lawyer
engaged in public prosecution is not to convict but to see that justice is done. This
rule is somehow connected to the movie, since the 11 jurors were very hasty in
making their decision of holding the young man guilty of murder. Justice is not done
when you send an innocent person to prison. In the future, when we become
lawyers or even prosecutors, it would be inevitable for us to experience certain
cases where it would be very easy to quickly jump to conclusions, but if we are
guided with the Code of Professional Responsibility, Morality and the Constitution,
there would be a proper administration of justice which would uphold each and
every ones right.