Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In the 21st century, the legal field has evolved together with the
progression of laws. Various techniques and styles of lawyering have also
come to the legal scene, enabling lawyers to exercise their profession with
utter variance and uniqueness. The objective of this evolution is to give the
people a wide range of lawyers that vary with their skill and ability to deal
with different cases and specialization of laws. What comes with is evolution
is the lawyers ability to adapt to certain jurisprudential and legal changes.
Changes in legal trends shape and re-shape what is ought to be called as a
practice, into a profession.
Advertising in the Legal Field
With regard to the practice itself, it is a shocking idea to many lawyers, and
to most laymen, that there are various services which are legal work if done
by a lawyer, but which properly qualified laymen may perform without
engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, and yet two examples show the
soundness of the concept.1, and that the obvious reason why the
advertisement or endorsement of legal services was upheld in the
constitution of the United States. In Bates vs. Arizona, a decided case of the
US Supreme court, which upheld lawyers rights to advertise their services,
held that lawyer advertising was commercial speech entitled to protection
under the First Amendment (incorporated against the States through
the Fourteenth Amendment).
In contrast to the Philippine legal scene, no advertisements are allowed. The
most worthy and effective advertisement possible is the establishment of a
well-merited reputation for professional capacity and fidelity to trust. In our
country, Lawyers may not advertise their services or expertise nor should
they resort to indirect advertisements for professional employment, such as
securing or inspiring newspaper comments, or procuring his photograph to
be published in connection with causes in which the lawyer has been
1 (Wiles, 1961), A Commentary on the Ethics of the Legal Profession in the '50's
The progression of
http://thenonbillablehour.typepad.com/nonbillable_hour/2004/11/five_by_five_an.html
6 University of Arkansas, Law school teaching methods, from
http://www.uark.edu/admin/urelinfo
globally
can be costly. Not only will you be paying for filing fees and other court
fees, but professional fees of lawyers can be very expensive.
In the Philippines, lawyers are required to have mandatory Legal Aid
Service which mandates every practicing lawyer to render a minimum of 60
hours of free legal aid services to indigent litigants yearly, as prescribed by
the Supreme Court on the Rule on Mandatory Legal Aid Service, under Bar
Matter No. 2012.
The rule seeks to enhance the duty of lawyers to society as agents of social
change and to the courts as officers thereof by helping improve access to
justice by the less privileged members of society and expedite the resolution
of cases involving them. Mandatory free legal service by members of the bar
and their active support thereof will aid the efficient and effective
administration of justice especially in cases involving indigent and pauper
litigants.11
For free legal fees and to qualify as an indigent, the Public Attorneys Office
(or PAO) to handles such cases in court. This office requires submission of
your Income Tax Return (ITR) to show your minimal annual income. The
Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), is also another office which offers
pro-bono cases or free legal fees for poor litigants as part of program. So
visit the nearest regional office near your place to avail of free legal services
if you cannot afford one. Lastly, the Office of the Legal Aid (OLA) of UP
College of Law also offers free legal services.
However, the privatization of such legal services isnt advisable here in the
Philippines. Studies have shown that private contracts for indigent defense,
instead of a public defender's office, have been tried in other counties, often
resulting in greater expense to the public and a lower quality of legal
representation for the poor. The reason why privatization cannot be possible
is that, litigation cannot itself completely reform social institutions, overreliance on courts diverts effort from potentially more productive political
strategies and disempowers the groups that lawyers are seeking to assist, and
private firms will defeat the purpose of agencies that provide free legal help,
and their own purpose of business and income generation. The result is too
much law and too little justice.
11 Sec. 2, B.M. No. 2012
claims. Secondly, the insurance company will allot resources to pay the
client in the event that the defendant is found guilty of malpractice.12
In the Philippine legal setting, we do not have any recourse or insurance for
malpractice in the legal field. The only recourse of the aggrieved party is the
suspension of the lawyer or legal counsel responsible, and the suspension
shall depend on certain degrees according to the severity of his unlawful and
unsanctioned actions. If the aggrieved party wants to get the most of the
damages done toward his person, then he must file for civil action against
the lawyer or legal counsel involved in the predicament.
Economic Situation: Pressures on the Practice
The attorneys role in society was once sacred. The attorney was a
counselor, a confidant, the most respected members in the community. Over
time, the role of the lawyer has evolved, and societal changes, the economic
downturn, and other factors have forced the attorney to view the practice of
law less as a profession and more as a business.
13
There is increasing
12 www.abanet.org/legalservices/lpl/insurance.html
13
http://www.reinhartlaw.com/services/buslaw/corpgovern/documents/art1111%20te.pdf
In the current situation of the legal profession, there is no doubt, that there
are limited job options for a graduate of law, in this case, are limited to
paralegals, legal assistants, and university professors. In the US,
Applications to law schools are down sharply plunging 38% just since
2010 hitting a 30-year low. To keep the quality of students from falling,
law schools have been cutting class sizes, and there are predictions that
some of the weakest law schools may begin to shut down. Slowly, the supply
of lawyers is likely to dwindle toward the demand for lawyers.14
It may be also the same for the Philippines. However, there is no evident
situation of an oversupply or decline of lawyers practicing their craft in this
country, only law students that stop in the course of their study of law.
Conclusion
The legal profession is in the midst of a dramatic transformation, and
it is not leading the rapid change that is occurring in the world. One of the
biggest differences in how lawyers will practice in the future, according to
resources cited in this report, is how lawyers value and price what they sell.
The first step is to understand that lawyers are selling knowledge, not legal
services or time.
Lawyers must not limit themselves into learning the different branches of
law alone. They must also have this drive to try different areas of learning.
New substantive areas that lawyers can pursue and offer as a niche to
innovative clients include renewable energy, coming sciences, atomic
energy, global health, and emerging economies, which they can also apply to
their respective profession.
The changes in the legal field must start with law school education. They
must train lawyers for real life practice challenges, teach entrepreneurial
skills, and visualize and realize a picture of employment opportunities, and
adapt to certain changes in the legal atmosphere.
14 http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/07/is-there-a-lawyer-bubble/