Chapter I: Introductory appear, prosecute and defend and on whom
Amicus curiae – is an experienced and impartial
1.1. Preliminary
Sources of Legal Ethics
1. Pertinent provisions of the Rules of Court and
related laws
2. Jurisprudence
3. Code of Professional Responsibility
4. Canons of Professional Ethics
5. Applicable doctrines laid down by the courts
6. Writings of legal scholars on the subject
1.2. Definitions
Justice Manuel Moran. Legal ethics is the embodiment of
all principles of morality and refinement that should
govern the conduct of every member of the bar.
Re Rothman. Legal Ethics is the living spirit of the
profession which limits yet uplifts it as livelihood.
Malcolm. It refers to that branch of moral science which
treats of the duties which an attorney owes to the court, to
his client, to his colleagues in the profession and to the
public
Terms used to describe members of the legal profession
1. Lawyer, attorney, attorney-at-law – one skilled
in law
2. Advocate – a person learned in the law and duly
admitted to practice, who advises a client and
pleads for him in court
3. Barrister – a person entitled to practice as an
advocate or counsel
4. Counsel – is an advocate or leader, a member of
the legal profession.
5. Doctor – is an attorney in the admiralty and
ecclesiastical courts
6. Solicitor – is a person prosecuting or defending
suits in courts of chancery.
Abogado – this term means not only possession of the
academic degree of LLB but membership in the bar
 Refers to that class of persons who by license are
officers of the court and who are empowered to
5.
peculiar duties, responsibilities and liabilities are
devolved by law as a consequence.
 A person who is a member of the Philippine Bar
and who, by the warrant of another, practices
law or who acts professionally in legal
formalities, negotiations or proceedings, by
authority of his client.
 A counsel is an adviser, a person professionally
engaged in the trial or management of a cause in
court; a legal advocate managing a case at law.
GR: Those who pass Shari’s Bar are not entitled to be
called attorneys
XPN: Unless, they are admitted to the Philippine Bar
Other terms:
1. Counsel de parte – is an attorney retained by a
party litigant, usually for a fee, to prosecute and
defend his cause in court.
 Implies freedom to accept or decline the case,
freedom of the client to retain or terminate
employment.
2. Counsel de officio – is an attorney appointed by
the court to defend an indigent defendant in
criminal action or to represent a destitute party
in a case
 Connotes little or no choice than the acceptance
by the indigent party of whatever is appointed as
his counsel and, unless excused therefrom by the
court, the discharge by the designated attorney
of the duty to faithfully and conscientiously
render effective legal assistance in favor of such
party.
3. Attorney of record – is the attorney whose
name, together with his address, is entered in
the record of a case as the designated counsel of
the party litigant in the case and to whom
judicial notices relative thereto are sent.
4. “Of counsel” – an experienced lawyer, who is
usually a retired member of the judiciary,
employed by law firms as consultants
attorney invited by the courts to appear and help
in the disposition of issues submitted to it.
6. Bar – legal profession
7. Bench – judiciary
1.3. Power to Regulate practice of law
The practice of law is a privilege
 The interest of the public requires that the
function be faithfully discharged and rendered
only by those who are qualified, fit and honest
and who possess good moral character.
 Only by proper regulation of the practice of law
will the interest of the public be adequately
safeguarded
 The power to regulate the practice of law is
vested in the SC by the Constitution (Art. VIII,
Sec.5(5))
 Even if there is no constitutional provision, the
power to regulate the practice of law is vested in
the judiciary.
 The legislature, in the exercise of its police
power may, however, enact laws regulating the
practice of law to protect the public and promote
the public welfare.
 The Constitution is silent as to whether the
legislature can repeal, alter or modify the rules
promulgated by the SC.
 The legislature may not pass a law that will
control the SC in the performance of its function
to decide who may enjoy the privilege of
practicing law, and any law of that kind is
unconstitutional as an invalid exercise of
legislative power.
Q: What is included in the power of the SC to regulate the
practice of law?
A:
1. Authority to define the practice of law
2. Prescribe the qualifications of a candidate to and
the subjects of the bar examinations
3. Decide who will be admitted to practice
4. Reinstate any disbarred member
5. Ordain integration of the Philippine Bar
 6. Punish for contempt any person for unauthorized
practice of law
7. Exercise overall supervision of the legal
profession
8. Exercise any power necessary to elevate the
standards of the bar and preserve its integrity
1.4. Nature of office of attorney
 A lawyer is a public officer, although he is not an
officer in the constitutional or statutory meaning
of the term
 He occupies a quasi-judicial office because he is
an officer of the court
 Figuratively, he is a priest of justice.
 He is subject to disciplinary authority of the
court and to its orders and directives with
respect to his relation to the court as well as to
his client
1.5. Privileges of an attorney
1. A lawyer has the privilege and right to practice
law during good behavior before any judicial,
quasi-judicial or administrative tribunal.
2. An attorney enjoys the presumption of regularity
in the discharge of his duty.
 No counterclaim for damages can be asserted
against him in the complaint which he files for
his client.
3. Passing the bar is equivalent to a first grade civil
service eligibility for any position in the classified
service in the government the duties f which
requires knowledge of law, OR a second grade
civil service eligibility for any other government
position which does not prescribe proficiency in
law as a qualification.
1.6. Duties of office, generally
1. Maintain allegiance to the Republic of the
Philippines and support the Constitution and
obey the law
2. Observe and maintain the respect due to the
courts of justice and judicial officers.
3. To counsel or maintain such actions or
proceedings only as he believes to be honestly
debatable under the law
4. To employ such means only as are consistent
with truth and honor, and never misled the judge
or any judicial officer by an artifice or false
statement of fact or law.
 The duties of the lawyer may be classified into
those which he owes to the court, to the public,
to the bar and to his client.
1.7. Public vs. private and personal duties
Threefold capacity in which an attorney operates:
1. Faithful assistant to the courts
2. Trusted agent to his client
3. Self-employed businessman
Public duty – consists of his obligations to obey the law,
aid in the administration of justice or cooperate with it
whenever justice would otherwise be imperiled
Private duty – duty to represent his client
Personal duty – what he owes to himself
 Personal and private duties are subordinate to
public duty
1.8. Practice of law a profession
 From a professional standpoint, the law
profession is expressive of three ideals –
organization, learning and public service.
 The gaining of livelihood is not a professional but
a secondary consideration.
Primary characteristics that distinguish the legal
profession from business
1. A duty of public service, of which emolument is a
by-product and in which one may attain the
highest eminence without making much money
2. A relation as officer of the court to the
administration of justice involving thorough
sincerity, integrity and reliability
3. A relation to client in the highest degree
fiduciary
4. A relation to colleagues at the bar characterized
by candor, fairness and unwillingness to resort to
current business methods of advertising and
encroachment on their practice, or dealing
directly with their clients.
 As a profession, the practice of law may be
exercised only by natural persons who are
lawyers, either as solo practitioners or in
partnerships with other lawyers.
 However, a partnership is not a legal entity. It is
not one formed for the purpose of carrying on a
trade or business or of holding a property.
 Tan v. Del Rosario. A professional law
partnership even if registered, with the SEC, is
not even a taxpayer and any lawyer practicing
law under a law partnership is considered a solo
practitioner who is the taxpayer and not the law
partnership.
 Rule 138, Sec. 1. Prohibits a business or
commercial partnership or juridical entity to
engage in the practice of law, the reason being
that a commercial partnership or juridical entity
because it cannot possess not comply with the
qualifications and requirements of a lawyer
 As a law partnership is a non-legal entity, it
cannot, by itself, sue or be sued.
1.9. Necessity of representation by counsel
 If in any case, civil or criminal, a court were
arbitrary to refuse to hear a party by counsel
employed by and appearing for him, it may not
be doubted that such a refusal would be a denial
of hearing and, therefore, of due process in the
constitutional sense.
1.10. Need for and Right to counsel
 Reason:
o Ignorance of clients of laws
o Personal and emotional involvement
which may adversely affect his
handling of the case
 Even lawyers, who are parties in a case, need the
guiding hand of counsel.

Custodial investigation is the questioning by law
enforcement officers of a suspect taken into custody or
otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in a significant
way
 Even if the judgment has become final and
executor, it may still be recalled, and the accused
afforded the opportunity to be heard by counsel,
where he has been denied the right to counsel
during the hearing.
 Where an accused was represented in the RTC by
at person who claimed to be a lawyer and was
thereafter convicted, but it was later discovered
that his counsel was not really a lawyer, he was
not really a lawyer, he was entitled to have his
conviction set aside and a new trial undertaken.
 A resolution of the CA dismissing an appeal for
failure to file the appellant’s brief may be
recalled and the appeal reinstated, where it
appears that the “lawyer” who perfected the
appeal and failed to file the appellant’s brief
turned out to be a fake lawyer.
 If the incompetence, ignorance or inexperience
of counsel is so great and error committed as a
result is so serious, the litigation may be re-
opened to give the client another chance to
present his case.
1.11. Consequences of denial of right to counsel
1. Evidence presented without counsel is
considered inadmissible.
 Regardless of WON the extrajudicial confession
of an accused is true, as long as it was given
without the assistance of counsel, it comes
inadmissible in evidence although it was a
product of the accused’s free will and violation.
2. The judgment even if it has become final and
executory can be recalled.
3. If the client was represented by a fake lawyer, he
is entitled to a new trial
4. Reinstatement of appeal, in case lawyer is fake
5. If the incompetence, ignorance or inexperience
of counsel is so great and error committed as a
result is so serious, the litigation may be re-
opened to give the client another chance to
present his case.
6. In case of failure to present because of absence
of counsel, the accused should be given another
chance to present his evidence.
7. Extrajudicial confession of accused is not
admissible as evidence when insistently disavows
knowledge of the lawyer who allegedly assisted
him in the taking of his confession in custodial
investigation.
 A lawyer provided by the investigators is deemed
engaged by the accused where he never raised
any objection against the appointment of the
lawyer during the course of the investigation
8. The accused’s confession given to a prosecutor
after the information has been filed in court
violates his right to counsel and the confession is
inadmissible.
 The counsel chosen by NBI investigators for the
accused was an applicant for a position in the
NBI and was in fact hired thereafter is not a
competent and independent counsel, so that the
statements taken by NBI were held not
admissible as evidence.
1.12. When appearance by counsel not obligatory
 In Municipal Trial Court, a counsel is not
required. He may conduct it in person or with
the aid of an agent or friend appointed by him
for that purpose
GR: In the RTC and Appellate Courts, a party to a civil suit
may either conduct his litigation personally or by attorney
XPN: If a juridical person, it may appear only by attorney.
 In administrative proceedings, the right to
counsel is not indispensable to due process.
 The rule that appearance by counsel is not
obligatory applies only in civil and administrative
cases
 It does not apply in criminal cases involving grave
and less grave offenses, where the accused must
be represented by counsel de parte or counsel
de oficio and in which his right to counsel is not
waivable.
1.13. Canons of Professional Responsibility
 In 1917, the Philippine Bar Association adopted,
as its own, Canon 1 to 32 of the Canons of
Professional Ethics of the American Bar
Association.
 In 1946, Canon 33 to 47 of the Canons 33 to 47
of the Canons of Professional Ethics of the
American Bar Association.
 In 1980, the Philippine Bar adopted the Code of
Professional Responsibility and submitted it to
the SC for approval
 On June 21, 1988, the SC promulgated the Code
of Professional Responsibility.
o 22 canons
o 77 rules
o Divided into four
 The law and society
 The lawyer and the legal
profession
 The lawyer and the courts
 The lawyer and the clients
 The Code establishes norms of conduct and
ethical standards for all lawyers, including those
in the government service, to observe in their
professional, official and private capacities.
o Failure to observe the Code is a ground
for disciplinary action.