LEGAL COUNSELING

Paul Christopher G. Pineda

JD4
The great philosopher Aristotle said that life is a great contradiction. Humans
are generally bound by contradiction, just like when you say white, one thing comes
to mind black, day and night, north and south. Even in humans, generally one
gender is attracted to the opposite sex. According to these philosophers humanity is
bestowed with the gift of intuition, to know what is right or wrong, to make choices
and decisions based on reason not by mere faith. I may not agree that this is the
gospel truth but part of it is true.
While threading in the study of law, several questions boggled my mind.
Questions that when answered brings more questions instead of clarity. One big
question is, what really is justice? In the study of legal counselling, somehow I was
able to shed some light to this question.
To start, most of the quarrels or the issues that arises in the society is
because of contradiction. One believes something that others does not or in some
cases they believe in the same thing but have different understanding of that thing
they believe in. As lawyers, the main goal is not really to litigate in win cases, if we
go back to the ancient times, the goal of lawyering is to find ways to settle issues
peacefully and find a middle ground to two contending parties. But nowadays that
seems to be farfetched than a reality. Two kinds of justice now contends with each
other, justice which is based on morality and justice based on reasons and
procedures.
As a future lawyer, Im trying to weigh on which kind of justice would I lean
to. Legal counselling if I may say tries to reconcile the two concepts, to provide
justice that is morally correct and reasonable.
Lawyers are bound to protect our client and provide legal help even though in
some instances we would defend an accused that for all we know is really guilty for
the offense committed. In this type of situation I have learned that one must be
committed to upholding the law and protecting the clients rights. As lawyers we are
not the one to decide whether the client is guilty or not, but we must make the
client understand the facts of his case and the consequence of his actions.
Another lesson learned is to find a mentor to teach you how the world of
lawyering works, this does not mean to be a clone of your mentor but be a better
one-a better lawyer and that one day you can also teach future lawyers and pass
down all the things that you have learned.
Trust and confidence is essential in the world of lawyering. As a counsel you
must value this and to keep in mind that the reason the client chose you is because
he trust you. Be truthful to them, present the facts of the case and the pros and
cons of the case. Involve the client in the process and explain to them the effects of
the actions that you will take in their case.

To be socially responsible as a lawyer and to devote oneself to upholding the

law and keeping the faith in God that you are doing the right thing. All actions are
not always based in logic sometime you just got to have faith. To always remember
that where reasons end faith begins.