Is teaching law a practice of law?

If you work in other education institution or a college then you may already be familiar
with lawyers who are pursuing their careers as teachers in law school or university. However,
there is ambiguity whether teaching law constitutes a practice of law or not.

Practice of law, as defined in the case of Cayetano vs Monsod, is any activity inside or
outside the court that requires the application of legal knowledge, training and experience. The
appointment was questioned because the respondents alleged that Atty Monsod did not engage in
the practice of law for 10 years assailing that he is not working as trial lawyer in court for many
years. . The Supreme Court ruled that Atty. Christian Monsod was indeed qualified as Chairman
of the COMELEC because his experiences as a lawyer-economist, a lawyer-manager, a lawyer-
entrepreneur of industry, a lawyer-negotiator of contracts, and a lawyer-legislator of both the rich
and the poor — verily more than satisfy the constitutional requirement — that he has been
engaged in the practice of law for at least ten years.

Practice of law is also highlighted in the case of Philippine Lawyer’s Associations vs

Agrava. In this case, the Supreme Court reiterated that the practice of law as being not limited to
the conduct of cases or litigation in court. It embraces the preparation of pleadings and other
papers incident to actions and special proceedings. Suffice it to state that the Supreme Court once
again ruled out that practice of law is not only focusing on doing litigation in court. It involves
jobs or work that needs application of legal knowledge and experience.

From the facts given above, it logically follows that when a lawyer engages in teaching
law and at the same time applying his legal knowledge and experience, he is already practicing
law. As a matter of fact, he is receiving compensation from his teaching career which is one of
the requisites in a practice of law. It is also doing a service as his livelihood .On the other hand,
habituality is also another element. When a lawyer teaches in school with a specific schedule and
he goes to school every day, it suffices the definition practice of law. Practice of law is more than
an isolated appearance, for it consists in frequent or customary actions, a succession of acts of
the same kind. In other words, it is a frequent habitual exercise.

It is crystal clear that teaching law is akin to an actual performance or application of

knowledge as distinguished from mere possession of knowledge; it connotes
an active, habitual, repeated or customary action.1 Thus, o "practice" law, or any profession for
that matter, means, to exercise or pursue an employment or profession actively, habitually,
repeatedly or customarily.