Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Attorneys and Admission to Bar
Section 3. Requirements for lawyers who are citizens of the
United States of America. — Citizens of the United States of
America who, before July 4, 1946, were duly licensed
members of the Philippine Bar, in active practice in the courts
of the Philippines and in good and regular standing as such
may, upon satisfactory proof of those facts before the
Supreme Court, be allowed to continue such practice after
taking the following oath of office:
I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., having been permitted
to continue in the practice of law in the Philippines, do
solemnly swear that I recognize the supreme authority of
the Republic of the Philippines; I will support its
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, nor 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 may knowledge
and discretion with all good fidelity as well as to the courts
as to my clients; and I impose upon myself this voluntary
obligation without any mental reservation or purpose of
evasion. So help me God.
No applicant shall be admitted to the bar examinations unless
he has satisfactorily completed the following courses in a law
school or university duly recognized by the government: civil
law, commercial law, remedial law, criminal law, public and
private international law, political law, labor and social
legislation, medical jurisprudence, taxation and legal ethics.
Section 6. PreLaw. — No applicant for admission to the bar
examination shall be admitted unless he presents a certificate
that he has satisfied the Secretary of Education that, before he
began the study of law, he had pursued and satisfactorily
completed in an authorized and recognized university or
college, requiring for admission thereto the completion of a
fouryear high school course, the course of study prescribed
therein for a bachelor's degree in arts or sciences with any of
the following subjects as major or field of concentration:
political science, logic, english, spanish, history and
economics.
Section 7. Time for filing proof of qualifications. — All
applicants for admission shall file with the clerk of the
Supreme Court the evidence required by section 2 of this rule
at least fifteen (15) days before the beginning of the
examination. If not embraced within section 3 and 4 of this
rule they shall also file within the same period the affidavit
and certificate required by section 5, and if embraced within
sections 3 and 4 they shall exhibit a license evidencing the
fact of their admission to practice, satisfactory evidence that
the same has not been revoked, and certificates as to their
professional standing. Applicants shall also file at the same
time their own affidavits as to their age, residence, and
citizenship.
The committee of bar examiner shall take such precautions as
are necessary to prevent the substitution of papers or
commission of other frauds. Examinees shall not place their
names on the examination papers. No oral examination shall
be given.
Section 14. Passing average. — In order that a candidate may
be deemed to have passed his examinations successfully, he
must have obtained a general average of 75 per cent in all
subjects, without falling below 50 per cent in any subjects. In
determining the average, the subjects in the examination shall
be given the following relative weights: Civil Law, 15 per
cent; Labor and Social Legislation, 10 per cent; Mercantile
Law, 15 per cent; Criminal Law; 10 per cent: Political and
International Law, 15 per cent; Taxation, 10 per cent;
Remedial Law, 20 per cent; Legal Ethics and Practical
Exercises, 5 per cent.
Section 15. Report of the committee; filing of examination
papers. — Not later than February 15th after the examination,
or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, the committee
shall file its report on the result of such examination. The
examination papers and notes of the committee shall be filed
with the clerk and may there be examined by the parties in
interest, after the court has approved the report.
Section 18. Certificate. — The supreme Court shall thereupon
admit the applicant as a member of the bar for all the courts of
the Philippines, and shall direct an order to be entered to that
effect upon its records, and that a certificate of such record be
given to him by the clerk of court, which certificate shall be
his authority to practice.
Section 19. Attorney's roll. — The clerk of the Supreme Court
shall kept a roll of all attorneys admitted to practice, which
roll shall be signed by the person admitted when he receives
his certificate.
Section 20. Duties of attorneys. — It is the duty of an
attorney:
(b) To observe and maintain the respect due to the courts of
justice and judicial officers;
(d) To employ, for the purpose of maintaining the causes
confided to him, such means only as are consistent with
truth and honor, and never seek to mislead the judge or any
judicial officer by an artifice or false statement of fact or
law;
(e) To maintain inviolate the confidence, and at every peril
to himself, to preserve the secrets of his client, and to
accept no compensation in connection with his client's
business except from him or with his knowledge and
approval;
(f) To abstain from all offensive personality and to advance
no fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a party or
witness, unless required by the justice of the cause with
which he is charged;
(g) Not to encourage either the commencement or the
continuance of an action or proceeding, or delay any man's
cause, from any corrupt motive or interest;
(i) In the defense of a person accused of crime, by all fair
and honorable means, regardless of his personal opinion as
to the guilt of the accused, to present every defense that the
law permits, to the end that no person may be deprived of
life or liberty, but by due process of law.
Section 21. Authority of attorney to appear. — an attorney is
presumed to be properly authorized to represent any cause in
which he appears, and no written power of attorney is
required to authorize him to appear in court for his client, but
the presiding judge may, on motion of either party and on
reasonable grounds therefor being shown, require any attorney
who assumes the right to appear in a case to produce or prove
the authority under which he appears, and to disclose,
whenever pertinent to any issue, the name of the person who
employed him, and may thereupon make such order as justice
requires. An attorneys wilfully appear in court for a person
without being employed, unless by leave of the court, may be
punished for contempt as an officer of the court who has
misbehaved in his official transactions.
Section 22. Attorney who appears in lower court presumed to
represent client on appeal. — An attorney who appears de
parte in a case before a lower court shall be presumed to
continue representing his client on appeal, unless he files a
formal petition withdrawing his appearance in the appellate
court.
Section 23. Authority of attorneys to bind clients. —
Attorneys have authority to bind their clients in any case by
any agreement in relation thereto made in writing, and in
taking appeals, and in all matters of ordinary judicial
procedure. But they cannot, without special authority,
compromise their client's litigation, or receive anything in
discharge of a client's claim but the full amount in cash.
Section 24. Compensation of attorneys; agreement as to fees.
— An attorney shall be entitled to have and recover from his
client no more than a reasonable compensation for his
services, with a view to the importance of the subject matter
of the controversy, the extent of the services rendered, and the
professional standing of the attorney. No court shall be bound
by the opinion of attorneys as expert witnesses as to the
proper compensation, but may disregard such testimony and
base its conclusion on its own professional knowledge. A
written contract for services shall control the amount to be
paid therefor unless found by the court to be unconscionable
or unreasonable.
Section 25. Unlawful retention of client's funds; contempt. —
When an attorney unjustly retains in his hands money of his
client after it has been demanded, he may be punished for
contempt as an officer of the Court who has misbehaved in his
official transactions; but proceedings under this section shall
not be a bar to a criminal prosecution.
Section 26. Change of attorneys. — An attorney may retire at
any time from any action or special proceeding, by the written
consent of his client filed in court. He may also retire at any
time from an action or special proceeding, without the consent
of his client, should the court, on notice to the client and
attorney, and on hearing, determine that he ought to be
allowed to retire. In case of substitution, the name of the
attorney newly employed shall be entered on the docket of the
court in place of the former one, and written notice of the
change shall be given to the advance party.
A client may at any time dismiss his attorney or substitute
another in his place, but if the contract between client and
attorney has been reduced to writing and the dismissal of the
attorney was without justifiable cause, he shall be entitled to
recover from the client the full compensation stipulated in the
contract. However, the attorney may, in the discretion of the
court, intervene in the case to protect his rights. For the
payment of his compensation the attorney shall have a lien
upon all judgments for the payment of money, and executions
issued in pursuance of such judgment, rendered in the case
wherein his services had been retained by the client.
Section 27. Attorneys removed or suspended by Supreme
Court on what grounds. — A member of the bar may be
removed or suspended from his office as attorney by the
Supreme Court for any deceit, malpractice, or other gross
misconduct in such office, grossly immoral conduct, or by
reason of his conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude,
or for any violation of the oath which he is required to take
before the admission to practice, or for a wilfull disobedience
of any lawful order of a superior court, or for corruptly or
willful appearing as an attorney for a party to a case without
authority so to do. The practice of soliciting cases at law for
the purpose of gain, either personally or through paid agents
or brokers, constitutes malpractice.
Section 28. Suspension of attorney by the Court of Appeals or
a Court of First Instance. — The Court of Appeals or a Court
of First Instance may suspend an attorney from practice for
any of the causes named in the last preceding section, and
after such suspension such attorney shall not practice his
profession until further action of the Supreme Court in the
premises.
Section 32. Compensation for attorneys de oficio. — Subject
to availability of funds as may be provided by the law the
court may, in its discretion, order an attorney employed as
counsel de oficio to be compensates in such sum as the court
may fix in accordance with section 24 of this rule. Whenever
such compensation is allowed, it shall be not less than thirty
pesos (P30) in any case, nor more than the following amounts:
(1) Fifty pesos (P50) in light felonies; (2) One hundred pesos
(P100) in less grave felonies; (3) Two hundred pesos (P200)
in grave felonies other than capital offenses; (4) Five Hundred
pesos (P500) in capital offenses.
Section 33. Standing in court of person authorized to appear
for Government. — Any official or other person appointed or
designated in accordance with law to appear for the
Government of the Philippines shall have all the rights of a
duly authorized member of the bar to appear in any case in
which said government has an interest direct or indirect.
Section 34. By whom litigation conducted. — In the court of a
justice of the peace a party may conduct his litigation in
person, with the aid of an agent or friend appointed by him for
the purpose, or with the aid an attorney. In any other court, a
party may conduct his litigation personally or by aid of an
attorney, and his appearance must be either personal or by a
duly authorized member of the bar.
Section 35. Certain attorneys not to practice. — No judge or
other official or employee of the superior courts or of the
Office of the Solicitor General, shall engage in private
practice as a member of the bar or give professional advice to
clients.