LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II

Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure

Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

Chapter 2 - The Lawyer in the Maiden Practice

Careers for a New Lawyer

Assistant Legal Cfficer in a

Solo Private Government
/Associate in a Corporate Law
Practice Employment
Private Law Firm Department
•Advantage: •Advatage: •Advantage: •Advantages:
• Being ones own •Better •Higher salary, •A good option
boss and owes no opportunities generous fringe when in urgent
debt of gratitue
benefits and need of a high
to no one
•Sucess Tip: perks paying job
•Disadvantages: • In starting a •Provides
•Precarious pernership, a •Disadvantage: oppotunity to
clientele and well-written •Fear of losing gain
unstable income contract of a high paying experience and
to lean on first 5 partnership, job rather than specialization
yrs. defining the on speculating
•Overhead roles of each on a new • Disadvantage:
exprenses partner, is venture of •Fear of losing
necessary private a high paying
•Success Tip: practice job
•Be a trustworthy
lawyer before
the public's eyes

Charting an Ideal Law Office

Essential factors to consider:

 Are the offices readily accessible?
 Are the offices readily identified?
 Do the offices present a neat and orderly appearance?
 Is there a sufficient light for your purposes and to permit your clients to read
while waiting?
 Is there ample room?
 Is the ventilation adequate?
 If there is no ventilating system, are electric fans provided where necessary?
 Are the walls attractively decorated?
 Do you have control over the relative humidity?
 Are the offices cleaned regularly?
 Do you provide drinking water facilities?
 Are there parking facilities
 Are your washroom facilities for your clients reasonably close to your offices?
 Is modern, interesting reading material available to clients in waiting room?

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LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II
Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure
Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

Library, equipment, staff, billing

A relatively ideal office should have:

 A library. Without a library no matter how modest, a prospective client cannot
help wondering whether the defender of his rights and interests, is equipped
with sufficient knowledge of the subject matter regarding his cause, and be
able to articulate his rights in court.
 Clerical equipment and office furniture.
 A methodical and frank billing of clients. Billing is second to noe in the
operation of a law office. However, the client must be impressed that the that
he is not being overcharged, otherwise, he will not return to hire your services
the second time.

How to Deal with the Client

Frankness and tact should be the climate during the first interview
 As to fixing and payment of attorney’s fees, a business approach should be the
criterion
 Contract of lease of services should be strictly implemented
 Every delay in the outcome of the case should be explained to the client after
the hearing
 Be there when the client wants you

Whether as a general practitioner or specialized practitioner, the new lawyer should

endeavor to protect and take good care of his relations with his clients since they are
the breadbasket of his law practice.

The key to a satisfied client is to treat him with cordiality and compassion, with
sincerity and honest intentions, and with a spirit of not giving up even when all the
odds seem to shatter the brightest of hopes

Make the Client Happy and Comfortable

First Interview to Case in Progress

Good Trial Lawyer

 One who is not interested only in his fees
 One who places the welfare of client and the interest of the smooth
administration of justice above self
 By avoiding unnecessary delays
 By being always available when needed
 By answering queries with promptness and frankness regarding possible
outcome of the case
 By trying his best to protect the client’s interests and rights, and attorney
client relationship

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LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II
Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure
Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

Guidelines in fixing the amount of attorney’s fees:

a. The value of litigation involved;
b. The professional standing of the lawyer in the community; and
c. The difficulty of the issues involved.

Note that the amount of attorney’s fees may depend upon the agreement of the
parties. Provided, That it is not champertous or confiscatory in nature. Neither should
the amount be unconscionable, otherwise, the courts scould order its reduction to
make it reasonable based on the standard of quantum meruit.

Small vs Banares

A disbarment case against Atty. Banares for receiving legal fees

(PhP80,000) but failed to file the client’s complaint

SC sustained IBP’s recommendation for disbarment.

The Code of Professional Responsibility provides that a lawyer shall keep

the client informed of the status of his case and shall respond within a
reasonable time to the client’s request for information.

Sustaining a Law Practice; Specialization

Once a lawyer has acquired a substantial number of clientele to start with a maiden
practice, the new lawyer should strive to maintain their patronage while attracting
more clients.
 Should establish a reputation of professional responsibility and honesty
 Should keep abreast with recent legislations and jurisprudence
 Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE)

According to Former Justice Minister Ricardo C. Puno, “when one studies law, passes
the bar and becomes a lawyer, he is perpetually condemned to study law, otherwise,
he will become useless like a farm implement that becomes rusty for non-use.”

Norms of Conduct for Successful Lawyering

Clients are the breadbasket of the profession; hence, a lawyer owes to his clients a
bundle of his time to make them happy.

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LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II
Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure
Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

Suggestion, on how to make clients happy:

 Remember who you are working for
 Define the relationship
 Keep in touch
 Keep at least two docketing systems
 Accept phone calls
 Promptly return your phone calls
 Spend time with your staff
 Paper the worlds
 Send out an evaluation sheet

Random Criteria for Obtaining Clients

Survey by a local chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines shows the following
reasons given by clients in selecting a lawyer
1. Reputation for capability as a lawyer 26%
2. Reputation for trustworthiness 23%
3. Personal acquaintance with lawyer 20%
4. Referral by neighbor or friend 13%
5. Participation in civic, religious and community
activities 3%
6. Referral by another lawyer 2%
7. Lawyer’s political activity 1%
8. Lawyer’s appearance and conduct in court 1%
9. Other reasons 3%

The survey result discloses that reputation plus personal contact account for 85% of
client’s reasons in the selection of a lawyer.

How to Hold a Client

 The most elementary practice of holding a client is, giving of sound advice,
drafting of valid documents, adopting a correct theory and backing of the law
that is applicable to the problem
 Attitude – Friendliness, promptness, courtesy, respect for clients, businesslike

Standard that Clients Expect from Lawyers

 Prompt and thorough communication to keep the client fully informed on the
progress of his legal matters
 Prompt handling of the client’s works
 Honest and straightforward dealing with the client, including careful evaluation
of the case, a full explanation of the particular problems and procedures
involved, and a frank and early discussion of fees
 A courteous and sympathetic attitude toward the client
 Competence and diligence in handling a client’s affairs

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LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II
Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure
Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

Suggestion on How to Conduct the First Interview

1. Step out into the reception room, greet the client warmly and personally escort
him into the office
2. Keep the interview private; see to it that is not interrupted by incoming phone
calls
3. Outline your proposed course of action
4. Don't wait, do something - this gives the client an insight to a lawyer's practice
and gives an impression that the lawyer is interested

Whether winning or losing a case, a lawyer should strive not to lose his clients, but to
win more clients to expand his clientele

Chapter 3 - Workload of a Lawyer

Workload of a Lawyer

The standard yardstick of successful lawyering may be defined from the

accomplishment of the following work tasks of the practicing lawyer, to wit:
 Advice
 Negotiation and Conciliation
 Drafting, whether pleadings to be filed in court, or of documents and written
contracts
 Litigation
 Financing
 Property management
 Acting as executor or trustee of a will, or special administrator in the case of
intestate succession
 Specialization

ADVICE. There is a presumption that every lawyer is competent in giving

spontaneous and off-hand advice to prospective clients during the first interview, at
least on a foreshadowing and relative outcome of the litigation.

On matters involving an intricate question of law and latest ruling of the Supreme
Court, the lawyer should be frank to client, hence, needs reservation to make prior
research verification.

Considerations that may affect the probable outcome

 Anticipated reactions of courts and other administrative agencies or official
or quasi-judicial bodies;
 Probative value of evidence;
 Desire and resources of clients and other affected parties; and
 Alternative courses of action.

Alternative courses of action that the lawyer may suggest to the client:

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LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II
Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure
Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

 Indicate the preference as to which course of action should be pursued by

the client;
 Proceed to argue persuasively as to why the client should adopt this course
of action; or
 He may try to avoid showing any preference at all on which course of action
should be taken, merely posing available alternatives in as neutral terms as
possible.

The lawyer merely restricts his role to illuminating choices, not recommending, and
any opinion he expresses are directed only at the relevancy and merits of the
alternatives, not at deciding among them.

Questions to consider upon giving advice to clients:

1. When should the lawyer be the client’s servant and when his critic?
2. To what extent should he (the lawyer) identify with the client’s goals and follow
his expressed wishes?
3. To what extent should he question them?

Simply accommodate in answering his queries with honest and straightforward

explanations on the probable outcome of his problem by the court’s
adjudication

Frankness is the name of the game. The lawyer’s role is to stand foursquare with
client’s interest, but only to such limit that will not allow him to compromise your
professional and moral standards, by advising on a course of conduct bordering on
ethical principle.

Negotiation and Conciliation

One important thing to remember when negotiating for a client is that the lawyer
must be equipped with a special power of attorney before sitting at the negotiating
table.

The need for such special authority is indispensable especially for a lawyer who
appears for his client in court proceedings. Without such special authority from the
client the judgment of the court based on the compromise agreement cannot be
enforced it being null and void unless ratified thereafter but before the finality of
judgment.

General power does not Include Special power

The principle is that, a general power of attorney does not include a special power
to perform a particular act. Thus, special authorities are necessary for transactions
specifically required by law [See Art. 1878, 1879, 1880, NCC] to bind his client
within the scope of his contract of employment.

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LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II
Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure
Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

Most common subjects in negotiation in real estate matters

1. Closings;
2. Coverage of title;
3. Insurance policies;
4. Eminent domain awards;
5. Conflicts between real estate brokers over sales commissions;
6. Mortgages;
7. Real estate tax adjustments;
8. Lease terminations; and
9. Tenant relocations and settlement litigations.

Essential factors in negotiation and conciliation:

1. Proposals to the other side;
2. Counter-proposals;
3. Reconsiderations;
4. Compromise;
5. Advice to the clients; and
6. Client instruction to counsel.

Effective negotiation techniques:

1. Delay, as long as in the long end will redound to the benefit of the parties
concerned.
2. Concealment of facts, as long as it is done with the primary purpose of
forestalling the possibility of a court litigation or of abbreviating a court trial
already started.

There is nothing more effective medium of negotiation that leads to quick

compromise agreement than when the trial Judge himself personally intervenes
with or without the client’s lawyer […] playing the role of a baton leader or like
a conductor in an orchestra. A Judge who simply waits for the parties to break
the ice, is a lazy Judge.

 Drafting, whether pleadings to be filed in court, or of documents and

written contracts

Typical instruments creating legal rights and non-legal matters that occupy the day
to day activities of the practicing lawyer, as well as constitute as lucrative sources
of his life-blood, to wit:
1. Usual contracts and deeds;
2. Sales;
3. Leases;
4. Mortgages;
5. Wills;
6. Partnership agreement;
7. Articles of Incorporation;
8. Pleadings, compromise agreements;
9. Decision and resolutions;

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LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II
Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure
Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

10. Press releases;

11. Letter of demand of various kinds of written communication;
12. Staff memoranda;
13. Advertisements;
14. Special power of attorney;
15. Petitions and motions to be filed in appellate courts;
16. Appeal briefs;
17. Appeal memoranda;
18. Letters of administration;
19. Letters rogatory; and
20. Letters of publication.

The ability to write with clarity and precision and to anticipate all relevant legal and
factual considerations is a lawyer’s skill of high order.

 LITIGATION

Litigation and negotiation distinguished

- In litigation, a third party decides issues involving others; whereas, in negotiation,

parties with conflicting interests seek to resolve or accommodate to them by
mutual agreement among themselves.

How to proceed effectively in uncontested annulment suits.

1. Arrange thru counsel for an uncontested litigation.
2. Defendant should not answer the complaint
3. Court proceeds to calendar the case
4. Upon proof of service to defendant, complainant can move for reception of
his/her evidence ex-parte

 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Common work tasks included in property management:

1. Leasing;
2. Eviction;
3. Contract for repairs;
4. Rent collection;
5. Arranging for maintenance services and insurance;
6. Payment of taxes and other expenses of clients; and
7. Acting as executor and trustee.

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LEGAL COUNSELING | Group II
Kariene Gayle Galapon Mary Ruth A. Granil Mark Lester L. Aure
Louben Degara Buenaventura Mark Mallone P. Eco Ver Anthony Fortich

 ACTING AS EXECUTOR OR TRUSTEE OF A WILL, OR SPECIAL

ADMINISTRATOR IN THE CASE OF INTESTATE SUCCESSION

It is very likely that when a client hires a lawyer to draft his will, he will just as well
appoint the same lawyer to act as executor of said will as the lawyer who drafted
the will had already acquired sufficient knowledge and identification of the
testator’s properties and nature of his bounty. As such, it is logical that the person
to discharge the task of trustees in management of the real and personal properties
of the decedent is the lawyer in his fiduciary capacity.

Considerations when drafting and acting as executor of a will

 The lawyer should possess a vast knowledge of the law on wills and succession.
 Must be conversant about how much portion of the testator’s estate he is
permitted to dispose of by will without encroaching on the legitimes of
compulsory heirs.
 Should be precise about the specific are and kind of property of the decedent’s
estate should pertain as aliquot share of each and every devisee and legatee in
order to prevent intestacy.

 SPECIALIZATION.

Refers to the work of practicing lawyer who specializes or has vast expertise or is
highly competent in performing a specific kind of work or practice.

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