Chapter III: Lawyer’s Duties to Society
 Rule 1.02 of legal business by laymen employed by an attorney for
A. Upholding the Constitution and the Law
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. (UDID)
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
man’s 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.
3.1. Duty to uphold the Constitution and obey the law
(Canon 1)
 Lee v. Tambago. Aside from Canon 1, a lawyer
should make himself an example for others to
emulate
3.2. Duty not to engage in unlawful conduct (Rule 1.01)
 Unlawful conduct is an act or omission which is
against the law
 Dishonest act – lying or cheating
 Immoral or deceitful conduct – one that involves
moral turpitude
 Moral turpitude includes anything done contrary
justice, modesty or good morals, or to any
vileness, baseness or depravity in the private and
social duties that a man owes to his fellowmen
or society, contrary to accepted rule of right and
duty between man and man.
 Administrative liability in case of violation of Rule
1.01.
3.3. Duty not to counsel illegal activities (Rule 1.02)
Ambulance chasing refers to solicitation of almost any kind
 A lawyer should not subvert the law by
counseling or assisting in activities which are in
defiance of the law.
 IBP members who nullified the results of the IBP
election in 1989 was held liable for violation of
Rule 1.02
 In re Turrel. A lawyer should not promote an
organization known to be violating the law nor
assist it in a scheme which he knows is dishonest
 A lawyer who defies a writ of preliminary
injunction has flouted his duties as a member of
the legal profession in violation of Rule 1.02
3.4. Duty not to encourage lawsuits (Rule 1.03)
Examples of acts prohibited by Rules 1.03
1. GR: Volunteering advice to bring lawsuit is not
valid
XPN: Where ties of blood, relationship or trust make
it his duty to do so
2. Hunting up defects in title or other causes of
action which may breed litigation
3. Employing agents of runners for like purpose
4. Paying reward, directly or indirectly, to those
who bring or influence the bringing of such cases
to his office
5. Remunerating policemen and other officials
under the guise of giving disinterested advice to
seek professional services
6. Searching for unknown heirs and soliciting their
employment of him
7. Initiating a meeting of the members of club and
inducing them to contest legislation under his
guidance
8. Purchasing notes to collect them by litigation at a
profit
9. Furnishing credit reports in expectation of
possible employment
10. Agreeing with a purchase of future interest to
invest therein in consideration of his services.
Purpose: To prevent ambulance chasing
the purpose or by the attorney himself.
3.5. Duty to encourage amicable settlement (Rule 1.04)
 A litigation involves time, expense and ill
feelings, which may be avoided by the
settlement of the action.
 Save the client additional expenses and help
prevent the clogging of dockets
B. Making Legal Services Available
CANON 2 - A LAWYER SHALL MAKE HIS LEGAL SERVICES
AVAILABLE IN AN EFFICIENT AND CONVENIENT MANNER
COMPATIBLE WITH THE INDEPENDENCE, INTEGRITY AND
EFFECTIVENESS 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 latter’s 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.
3.6. Generally
 Canon 2, otherwise he should help find another
lawyer who is qualified and able to do so.
 Reasons:
1. Poverty and the consequent inability to pay
2. Ignorance not only of the need of legal services
but also of where to find a competent and
dependable lawyer.
3.7. A lawyer shall not reject the cause of the defenseless
GR: A lawyer shall not reject the cause of the defenseless
or the oppressed
XPN: Valid reasons
1. He is not in a position to carry out the work
effectively or competently
2. He labors under a conflict of interests between
him and a prospective client or between a
present client and a prospective client.
XPN to XPN: Rule 2.02, the lawyer “shall not refuse to
render legal advice to the persons concerned if only to the
extent necessary to safeguard the latter’s right.
3.8. A lawyer shall not refuse to render legal advice
 Rule 2.02
3.9. Participating in legal development
 It is a duty that flows from the lawyer’s sense of
public responsibility
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.
3.10. A lawyer shall keep abreast of legal developments
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.
 Duty not only by the lawyers but also judges
 After admission to the bar, a lawyer incurs a
three-fold obligation:
1. He owes it to himself to continue improving his
knowledge of the law
2. He owes it to his profession to take an active
interest in the maintenance of high standards of
legal obligation
3. He owes it to the lay public to make the law a
part of its social consciousness
3.11. Mandatory continuing legal education
 Purpose: to ensure that they are keep abreast
with law and jurisprudence.
 Members of the IBP not exempt under Rule 7
shall complete every 3 years at least 36 hours of
continuing legal education activities, with
appropriate penalties for failure to do so, in
accordance with the Rules on MCLE.
Rule 7: Exemptions
Sec. 1. Parties exempted from the MCLE - The following
members of the Bar are exempt from the MCLE
requirement:
a) The President and the Vice President of the
Philippines, and the Secretaries and
Undersecretaries of Executives Departments;
b) Senators and Members of the House of
Representatives;
c) The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the
Supreme Court, incumbent and retired members
of the judiciary, incumbent members of the
Judicial and Bar Council and incumbent court
lawyers covered by the Philippine Judicial
Academy program of continuing judicial
education;
d) The Chief State Counsel, Chief State Prosecutor
and Assistant Secretaries of the Department of
Justice;
e) The Solicitor General and the Assistant Solicitor
General;
f) The Government Corporate Counsel, Deputy and
Assistant Government Corporate Counsel;
g) The Chairmen and Members of the
Constitutional Commissions;
h) The Ombudsman, the Overall Deputy
Ombudsman, the Deputy Ombudsmen and the
Special Prosecutor of the Office of the
Ombudsman;
i) Heads of government agencies exercising quasi-
judicial functions;
j) Incumbent deans, bar reviews and professors of
law who have teaching experience for at least 10
years accredited law schools;
k) The Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and members of
the Corps of Professors and Professorial Lectures
of the Philippine Judicial Academy; and
l) Governors and Mayors.
Sec. 2. Other parties exempted from the MCLE
The following Members of the Bar are likewise exempt:
a) Those who are not in law practice, private or
public.
b) Those who have retired from law practice with
the approval of the IBP Board of Governors.
Sec. 3. Good cause for exemption from or modification of
requirement - A member may file a verified request setting
forth good cause for exemption (such as physical disability,
illness, post graduate study abroad, proven expertise in
law, etc.) from compliance with or modification of any of
the requirements, including an extension of time for
compliance, in accordance with a procedure to be
established by the MCLE Committee.
Sec. 4. Change of status - The compliance period shall
begin on the first day of the month in which a member
ceases to be exempt under Sections 1, 2, or 3 of this Rule
and shall end on the same day as that of all other
members in the same Compliance Group.
Sec. 5. Proof of exemption - Applications for exemption
from or modification of the MCLE requirement shall be
under oath and supported by documents.
C. Applicability of Code to Government Lawyers
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.
3.12. Code applicable to government lawyers
 Reason: A lawyer does not shed his professional
obligations upon his assuming public office
 A government lawyer may thus be held
administratively liable for breach of canons and
rules of CANONS or the lawyer’s oath.
3.13. A prosecutor shall see to it that justice is done
 Rule 6.01
 Public office is a public trust
 Public prosecutor is a quasi-judicial officer
 Trieste v. Sandiganbayan. If on appeal by the
accused from a conviction by the trial court the
public prosecutor finds no legal basis to sustain
the conviction, he should hesitate to recommend
that the accused be acquitted.
3.14. Restrictions on the functions of public
prosecutor
 People v. Madera. Public prosecutors should not
allow that their office is being used or
prostituted for political ends or other purposes.
 Suarez v. Platon. It is his duty to refrain from
improper methods calculated to produce a
wrongful conviction as it is to use every
legitimate means to bring about a just one.
 He should not offer illegally seized evidence
 He should not consent to any undue delay in the
prosecution of the action
 He may not assert his personal knowledge of a
crime unless he withdraws as prosecutor and
takes the witness stand, to give the defense
counsel opportunity to cross-examine him.
 Assist in the escape of a prisoner
 Institute a criminal action to force a settlement
of a case
 Agree to refrain from prosecuting a person in
consideration of a reward
 Receive money for dismissing a complaint
 Induce an accused to plead guilty
 Willfully fail to prosecute violations of law or
lose the records thereof
 Have a secret law partner with whom he divides
the attorney’s fees
3.15. In appeals, the Solicitor General has control
 SG in appeals to the CA and SC
 People v. Mendoza. The SC sometimes overlooks
this procedural lapse and proceeds to resolve the
case on its merit, even when the case is filed by a
prosecutor.
 SG may discontinue the prosecution of the case
in the CA in its sound discretion.
GR: Only the SG may appear as the lawyer of the People in
CA and SC
XPN: R.A. 8249. “In all cases elevated to the
Sandiganbayan and from the Sandiganbayan to the SC, the
Office of the Ombudsman, through its special prosecutor,
shall represent the People of the Philippines, except in
case filed pursuant to E.O. 1, 2, 14 and 14-A issued in 1986.
3.16. Role of private prosecutor
 The Rules of Court provides that “unless the
offended party has waived the civil action or
expressly reserved the right to institute it
separately from the criminal action, and subject
to the provision of Sec. 5 thereof, which gives to
the public prosecutor the direction and control
of the prosecution, he may intervene by counsel
in the prosecution of the offense”
GR: An offended party has the right to intervene in the
prosecution of a crime
XPN:
1. Where from the nature of the crime and the law
defining and punishing it no civil liability arises in
favor of a private offended party
2. Where from the nature of the offense the
offended party is entitled to civil indemnity
arising therefrom but he has waived the same or
has expressly reserved his right to institute a civil
action or he has already instituted said action.
 Cabral v. Puno. A motion for reconsideration
filed by the counsel of the offended party, of the
order dismissing the case produced no legal
effect because only the prosecutor can file the
appropriate pleading, if it will not put the
accused in double jeopardy.
 People v. Munar. However, where the offended
party withdrew his reservation to file a separate
civil action, the private prosecutor may still
intervene in the prosecution of the criminal case,
by conducting the examination of witnesses
under the control of the prosecutor.
 Once the offended part has filed a separate civil
action arising from the crime, he may not
withdraw such civil case in order to intervene in
the criminal prosecution.
3.17. Intervention by private lawyer is subject to
prosecutor’s control
 Always under the direction and control of the
public prosecutor
  Where the prosecutor has turned over the active
conduct of the trial to the private prosecutor
even when the public prosecutor was absent
during the trial, the evidence presented could
not be considered valid evidence of the People
of the Philippines.
 People v. Beriales. However, the rule that the
evidence presented by the private prosecutor at
a hearing, at which neither the prosecutor or his
assistant or authorized special counsel was
present, cannot be considered as evidence,
applies only to courts which are provided by law
with their own prosecutors, and not to municipal
courts which have no trial prosecutors
3.18. When public prosecutor should take over
handling of case
 A public prosecutor should not however allow
the trial in the hands of a private prosecutor to
degenerate into a private prosecution.
 In such event, take over the active conduct of the
litigation.
of their office and not made available to the
public, either: (1) To further their private
interests, or give undue advantage to anyone; or
(2) To prejudice the public interest.
3.20. Former official may not accept certain
employment
 Rule 6.03
 PCGG v. Sandiganbayan and Mendoza.
“Drafting, enforcing or interpreting government
or agency procedures, regulations or laws, or
briefing abstract principles of laws “ are act
which do not fall within the scope of the term
“matter” and cannot disqualify.
 “Intervention” includes an act of a person who
has a power to influence the subject
proceedings.

3.19. A lawyer shall not use his public position to

promote his private interest

 Rule 6.02
 If the duty of the public lawyer may conflict with
his official duties, he should terminate his
professional relationship
 R.A. 6713, Sec. (b) and (c). Public officials and
employees during their incumbency shall not:

(1) Own, control, manage or accept employment as

officer, employee, consultant, counsel, broker,
agent, trustee or nominee in any private
enterprise regulated, supervised or licensed by
their office unless expressly allowed by law;
(2) Engage in the private practice of their profession
unless authorized by the Constitution or law,
provided, that such practice will not conflict or
tend to conflict with their official functions; or
(3) Recommend any person to any position in a
private enterprise which has a regular or pending
official transaction with their office.
(4) use or divulge, confidential or classified
information officially known to them by reason