Lawyering in the Philippines:

The practice of Legal Profession and its regulation

I.

Introduction

In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only
thinks of doing so. Immanuel Kant

The practice of law is a privilege burdened with conditions. It is so delicately affected with
public interest that it is both power and a duty of the state (through this court) to control and
regulate it in order to protect and promote public welfare. In re integration of the Bar 49 SCRA
22

The Code of Professional Responsibility is designed to be both an inspirational guide to the

members of the profession and a basis for disciplinary action when the conduct of a lawyer falls
beyond the required minimum standards required by law.

The public has a right to expect above board conduct from a lawyer, obviously the Canons,
Ethical Considerations, and Disciplinary Rules were set to define the type of ethical conduct that
a lawyer must possess, in all matters pertaining to professional discipline.

A lawyer should ultimately be responsible for the conduct of oneself in the course of the
professional representation of the client.

The Canons are statements of axiomatic norms, expressing in general terms the standards of
professional conduct expected of lawyers in their relationships with the public, with the legal
system, and with the legal profession. They embody the general concepts from which the Ethical
Considerations and the Disciplinary Rules are derived.
The Ethical Considerations are aspirational in character and represent the objectives toward
which every member of the profession should strive. They constitute a body of principles upon
which the lawyer can rely for guidance in many specific situations.

The Disciplinary Rules, unlike the Ethical Considerations, are mandatory in character. The
Disciplinary Rules state the minimum level of conduct below which no lawyer can fall without
being subject to disciplinary action. The Disciplinary Rules should be uniformly applied to all
lawyers, regardless of the nature of their professional activities. The Code makes no attempt to
prescribe either disciplinary procedures or penalties for violation of a Disciplinary Rule, nor does
it undertake to define standards for civil liability of lawyers for professional conduct. The
severity of judgment against one found guilty of violating a Disciplinary Rule should be
determined by the character of the offense and the attendant circumstances. An enforcing
agency, in applying the Disciplinary Rules, may find interpretive guidance in the basic principles
embodied in the Canons and in the objectives reflected in the Ethical Considerations.

No codification of principles can expressly cover all situations that may arise. Accordingly,
conduct that does not appear to violate the express terms of any Disciplinary Rule nevertheless
may be found by an enforcing agency to be the subject of discipline on the basis of a general
principle illustrated by a Disciplinary Rule or on the basis of an accepted principle applicable to
lawyers.
 DISCUSSION

Although this general approach to legal ethics is a common one, the specific form of the
argument that follows is unusual and warrants some comment. In particular, the argument does
not attempt (at least not as its primary goal) to say whether the present regime of legal ethics, the
law governing lawyers as it stands-is justified or wrongheaded, nor does it attempt to say what
ethical principles should ideally govern the professional conduct of lawyers. Instead, the
argument takes the present regime (or some recognizable variation of this regime) as given and
employs philosophical analysis to explain the moral condition of lawyers who practice under this
regime.

Lawyers in the Philippines must develop an account of what it is like-of what it is like not
psychologically but ethically to practice law under the present regime, with a special emphasis
on the moral tensions that practicing lawyers face. In this sense, the argument proceeds not from
the point of view of the philosopher (or policy-maker) who stands outside the system of legal
ethics as it is, but instead develops the point of view of the lawyer practicing within this system.

This is nowadays itself something of an unusual ambition. Ever since the realist revolution
exploded the formalist myth that legal rules are connected to one another by logic and are
independent of the rest of the normative universe, the focus of legal scholarship and especially of
interdisciplinary legal scholarship has been on asking what values outside of the law a legal
regime should serve and what system of legal rules might serve these values best. There must be
no desire to revive the formalist conception of law as sealed off from morals or politics, and
there is anyway no less plausible site for such an ambition than the law governing lawyers,
which are obviously rent through with extra-legal moral and political ideals. But I do believe that
even though the law is ultimately beholden to extra-legal values, legal regimes can construct
edifices of doctrinal, and indeed human, relationships that cast long shadows in the light of these
extra-legal values. Life in these shadows is, then, neither purely legal nor purely independent of
the law but instead consists of the patterns that extra-legal values take on when they are, to
change metaphors, refracted through the prism of the law.

The distinctive forms of life and action that arise in this context the values and ideals that are
immanent in the law will be understudied by a scholarly method that stands outside the law and
proceeds with the principal purpose of shaping the law to promote one or another set of extra-
legal ends. So it is, I believe, with much contemporary scholarship in legal ethics, which moves
too quickly to ask what system of ethical rules should govern lawyers and thereby passes over
the important question what it is like ethically to be a lawyer practicing under the system of
ethical rules that we now have.
 The CODE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

CHAPTER I. THE LAW AND SOCIETY, states that;

CHAPTER I. THE LAW AND SOCIETY

CANON 1 - A LAWYER SHALL UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION, OBEY THE

LAWS OF THE LAND AND PROMOTE RESPECT FOR LAW AND LEGAL
PROCESSES.

Rule 1.01 - A lawyer shall not engage in unlawful, dishonest, immoral or deceitful
conduct.

Rule 1.02 - A lawyer shall not counsel or abet activities aimed at defiance of the law or at
lessening confidence in the legal system.

Rule 1.03 - A lawyer shall not, for any corrupt motive or interest, encourage any suit or
proceeding or delay any mans cause.

Rule 1.04 - A lawyer shall encourage his clients to avoid, end or settle a controversy if it
will admit of a fair settlement.

CANON 2 - A LAWYER SHALL MAKE HIS LEGAL SERVICES AVAILABLE IN

AN EFFICIENT AND CONVENIENT MANNER COMPATIBLE WITH THE
INDEPENDENCE, INTEGRITY AND EFFECTIVE-NESS OF THE PROFESSION.

Rule 2.01 - A lawyer shall not reject, except for valid reasons, the cause of the
defenseless or the oppressed.

Rule 2.02 - In such cases, even if the lawyer does not accept a case, he shall not refuse to
render legal advice to the person concerned if only to the extent necessary to safeguard
the latters rights.

Rule 2.03 - A lawyer shall not do or permit to be done any act designed primarily to
solicit legal business.

Rule 2.04 - A lawyer shall not charge rates lower than those customarily prescribed
unless the circumstances so warrant.

CANON 3 - A LAWYER IN MAKING KNOWN HIS LEGAL SERVICES SHALL

USE ONLY TRUE, HONEST, FAIR, DIGNIFIED AND OBJECTIVE INFORMATION
OR STATEMENT OF FACTS.
Rule 3.01 - A lawyer shall not use or permit the use of any false, fraudulent, misleading,
deceptive, undignified, self-laudatory or unfair statement or claim regarding his
qualifications or legal services.

Rule 3.02 - In the choice of a firm name, no false, misleading or assumed name shall be
used. The continued use of the name of a deceased partner is permissible provided that
the firm indicates in all its communications that said partner is deceased.

Rule 3.03 - Where a partner accepts public office, he shall withdraw from the firm and
his name shall be dropped from the firm name unless the law allows him to practice law
concurrently.

Rule 3.04 - A lawyer shall not pay or give anything of value to representatives of the
mass media in anticipation of, or in return for, publicity to attract legal business.

CANON 4 - A LAWYER SHALL PARTICIPATE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE

LEGAL SYSTEM BY INITIATING OR SUPPORTING EFFORTS IN LAW REFORM
AND IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

CANON 5 - A LAWYER SHALL KEEP ABREAST OF LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS,

PARTICIPATE IN CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS, SUPPORT
EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE HIGH STANDARDS IN LAW SCHOOLS AS WELL AS IN
THE PRACTICAL TRAINING OF LAW STUDENTS AND ASSIST IN
DISSEMINATING INFORMATION REGARDING THE LAW AND
JURISPRUDENCE.

CANON 6 - THESE CANONS SHALL APPLY TO LAWYERS IN GOVERNMENT

SERVICE IN THE DISCHARGE OF THEIR OFFICIAL TASKS.

Rule 6.01 - The primary duty of a lawyer engaged in public prosecution is not to convict
but to see that justice is done. The suppression of facts or the concealment of witnesses
capable of establishing the innocence of the accused is highly reprehensible and is cause
for disciplinary action.

Rule 6.02 - A lawyer in the government service shall not use his public position to
promote or advance his private interests, nor allow the latter to interfere with his public
duties.

Rule 6.03 - A lawyer shall not, after leaving government service, accept engagement or
employment in connection with any matter in which he had intervened while in said
service.
CHAPTER II. LAWYER AND THE LEGAL PROFESSION

CANON 7 - A LAWYER SHALL AT ALL TIMES UPHOLD THE INTEGRITY AND

DIGNITY OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION AND SUPPORT THE ACTIVITIES OF
THE INTEGRATED BAR.

Rule 7.01 - A lawyer shall be answerable for knowingly making a false statement or
suppressing a material fact in connection with his application for admission to the bar.

Rule 7.02 - A lawyer shall not support the application for admission to the bar of any
person known by him to be unqualified in respect to character, education, or other
relevant attribute.

Rule 7.03 - A lawyer shall not engage in conduct that adversely reflects on his fitness to
practice law, nor shall he, whether in public or private life, behave in a scandalous
manner to the discredit of the legal profession.

CANON 8 - A LAWYER SHALL CONDUCT HIMSELF WITH COURTESY,

FAIRNESS AND CANDOR TOWARD HIS PROFESSIONAL COLLEAGUES, AND
SHALL AVOID HARASSING TACTICS AGAINST OPPOSING COUNSEL.

Rule 8.01 - A lawyer shall not, in his professional dealings, use language which is
abusive, offensive or otherwise improper.

Rule 8.02 - A lawyer shall not, directly or indirectly, encroach upon the professional
employment of another lawyer; however, it is the right of any lawyer, without fear or
favor, to give proper advice and assistance to those seeking relief against unfaithful or
neglectful counsel.

CANON 9 - A LAWYER SHALL NOT, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, ASSIST IN

THE UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW.

Rule 9.01 - A lawyer shall not delegate to any unqualified person the performance of any
task which by law may only be performed by a member of the Bar in good standing.

Rule 9.02 - A lawyer shall not divide or stipulate to divide a fee for legal services with
persons not licensed to practice law, except:

a) Where there is a pre-existing agreement with a partner or associate that, upon the
latters death, money shall be paid over a reasonable period of time to his estate or to
persons specified in the agreement; or

b) Where a lawyer undertakes to complete unfinished legal business of a deceased

lawyer; or
 c) Where a lawyer or law firm includes non-lawyer employees in a retirement plan, even
if the plan is based in whole or in part, on a profitable sharing arrangement.

Public confidence in the judiciary is eroded by irresponsible or improper conduct by lawyers. A

lawyer must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety; they must expect to be the
subject of constant public scrutiny. A lawyer must therefore accept restrictions on the lawyer's
conduct that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen and should do so freely and
willingly.

The prohibition against behaving with impropriety or the appearance of impropriety applies to
both the professional and personal conduct of a lawyer. Because it is not practicable to list all
prohibited acts, actual improprieties under this standard include violations of law, court rules,
and other specific provisions of this Code. The test for appearance of impropriety is whether the
conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the lawyer's ability to carry out
judicial responsibilities with integrity, impartiality, and competence is impaired.

CONCLUSION

Membership in the organization commits members to adhere to the code of ethics. Members are
advised of this obligation upon joining the association and that violations of the code may lead to
the imposition of sanctions, including termination of membership. Members subject to the code
of ethics may be reviewed under these ethical standards only if the activity is part of or affects
their work-related functions. Personal activities having no connection to or effect on employees'
performance of their professional roles are usually not subject to the code of ethics.

Actions of members governed by the ethics code will be judged in light of the professional
judgment of others engaged in similar activities in similar circumstances, given the knowledge
the member had or should have had at the time. An ethics code applies to professional activities
across a variety of contexts, such as in person, postal, telephone, internet, and other electronic
transmissions. Membership in the association governed by the ethics code commits members to
comply with the standards of the ethics code and to the rules and procedures used to enforce
them.

Lack of awareness or misunderstanding of an ethical standard is not itself a defense to a charge

of unethical conduct. The procedures for filing, investigating, and resolving complaints of
unethical conduct are governed by rules of the committee or entity responsible for enforcing the
code, which may impose sanctions on its members for violations, including termination of
membership, conviction of a crime, expulsion or suspension from an affiliated state association,
or suspension or loss of licensure, and may notify other bodies and individuals of its actions.
One must remember that service to people is service to our Almighty God; an oath is an oath and
must place in the abyss of ones heart;

Lawyer's Oath

I, do solemnly swear that I will maintain allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines, I will
support the Constitution and obey the laws as well as the legal orders of the duly constituted
authorities therein; I will do no falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in court; I will not
wittingly or willingly promote or sue any groundless, false or unlawful suit, or give aid nor
consent to the same; I will delay no man for money or malice, and will conduct myself as a
lawyer according to the best of my knowledge and discretion, with all good fidelity as well to the
courts as to my clients; and I impose upon myself these voluntary obligations without any mental
reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God.

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases
to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights,
which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Thomas Jefferson