CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTORY word abogado or the Filipino word

manananggol
Preliminary a. the term has a fixed and general
The law is not a trade nor a craft but a signification and refers to that
profession. class of persons who by license
Its basic ideal is to: are officers of the court
a. render public service b. who are empowered to appear,
b. secure justice for those who seek its prosecute and defend and on
aid whom peculiar duties,
The fulfillment of this obligation responsibilities and liabilities are
requires: devolved by law as a
a. professional standards be consequence
constantly inculcated among c. practices law or who acts
lawyers professionally in legal
b. the rules and ethics of the formalities, negotiations or
profession be collated into a body of proceedings, by authority of his
principles and made readily client
available to every attorney as his
manual of equipment without COUNSEL
which he cannot do his part to - an adviser, a person professionally
keep the law on the level of a engaged in the trial or management
profession. of a cause in court
- a legal advocate managing a case
Definitions at law
LEGAL ETHICS
- embodiment of all principles of Those who pass the Sharia Bar are
morality and refinement that should not entitled to be called Attorneys,
govern the conduct of every unless they have also been admitted to
member of the bar the Philippine Bar.
- living spirit of the profession, which
limits yet uplifts it as a livelihood COUNSEL DE PARTE
- branch of moral science which - is an attorney retained by a party
treats of the duties which an litigant, usually for a fee, to
attorney owes to the court, to his prosecute or defend his cause in
client to his colleagues in the court
profession and to the public. - the term implies freedom of
choice either in the part of the
MEMBER OF THE LEGAL attorney to decline or accept the
PROFESSION employment or on the
- Lawyer part of the litigant to continue or
- Attorney or Attorney-at-Law terminate the retainer any time.
- Advocate
- Barrister COUNSEL DE OFICIO
- Counsel or Counselor
- is an attorney appointed by the
- Proctor
- Solicitor court to defend an indigent
defendant in a criminal action
MEMBER OF THE PHILIPPINE BAR - to represent a destitute party in a
- commonly known as lawyer or case
attorney-at-law or counsel, Spanish - the term connotes little or no
other choice than the acceptance
 of the indigent party of whoever is
appointed as his counsel
- unless excused therefrom by the
court, the discharge by the
designated attorney of the duty to
faithfully and conscientiously render
effective legal assistance in favor of
such party
ATTORNEY OF RECORD
- is the attorney whose name,
together with his address, is entered
in the record of a case as the
designated counsel of the party
litigant in the case and to whom
judicial notices relative thereto are
sent
OF COUNSEL
- is an experienced lawyer, who is
usually a retired member of
judiciary, employed by law firms as
consultant
AMICUS CURIAE
- is an experienced and impartial
attorney invited by the court to
appear and help in the disposition of
issues submitted to it
- it implies the friendly intervention of
the counsel to call the attention of
the court to some matters of law or
facts which might otherwise escape
its notice, and in regard to which it
might go wrong
BAR - refers to the legal profession
BENCH means the judiciary
Power to regulate practice of law
PRACTICE OF LAW
- is a privilege impressed with public
interest
Reason: An attorney who alone
enjoys such privilege, owes duties
not only to his client but also to the
court, to his brethren in the
profession and to the public and
takes part in one of the most
important functions of the state
the administration of justice
Interest of the public requires
that the function be faithfully
discharged and rendered only by
those who are qualified, fit and
honest and who possess good moral
character.
- it is both a right and a duty of the
state to control and regulate it in order
to promote the public welfare
SUPREME COURT
- the Constitution vests this power of
control and regulation
- regulate the practice of law
- prescribe the qualifications of a
candidate to and the subjects of the
bar examinations
- decide who will be admitted to
practice
- discipline, suspend or disbar any
unfit and unworthy member of the
bar
- reinstate any disbarred or
indefinitely suspended attorney
- ordain the integration of the
Philippine bar
- punish for contempt any person for
unauthorized practice of law
- exercise overall supervision of the
legal profession
- can also exercise any other power
as may be necessary to elevate the
standards of the bar and preserve
its integrity
Note:
LEGISLATURE in the exercise of its
police power may, however, enact laws
regulating the practice of law to protect
the public and promote the public
welfare.
Note: The legislature may not pass a
law that will control the Supreme Court
 in the performance of its function to
decide who may enjoy the privilege of
practicing law, and any law of that kind
is unconstitutional as an invalid
exercise of the legislative power.
CODE OF PROFESSIONAL
RESPONSIBILITY
CHAPTER 1: The LAWYER and SOCIETY
Canon 1 A lawyer shall uphold the
constitution, obey the laws of the land
and promote respect for law and legal
processes.
A lawyer is the servant of the law and
belongs to a profession to which
society has entrusted the
administration of law and the
dispensation of justice. As such, he
should make himself more an exemplar
for others to emulate.
A lawyer assumes responsibilities well
beyond the basic requirements of good
citizenship.
Rule 1.01 A lawyer shall not engage in
unlawful, dishonest, immoral or deceitful
conduct.
UNLAWFUL
- is an act or omission which is
against the law
DISHONEST
- is an act of lying or cheating
IMMORAL or DECEITFUL
- is one that involves moral turpitude
- includes anything done contrary to
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
Rule 1.02 A lawyer shall not counsel or
abet activities aimed at defiance of the law or
at lessening confidence of the legal system.
Reason: His responsibilities are greater
than those of a private citizen.
He must not subvert the law by
counseling or assisting in activities
which are in defiance of the law.
- He should not promote an
organization known to be violating
the law nor assist it in a scheme
which he knows is dishonest.
In re Turrel
- Nor should he allow his services to
be engaged by an organization
whose members are violating the
law, to defend them when they get
caught. A.B.A. Op. 281
- A lawyer who defies a writ of
preliminary injunction has flouted
his duties as a member of the legal
profession. Oronce v. CA
Rule 1.03 A lawyer shall not, for any
corrupt motive or interest, encourage any suit
or proceeding or delay any mans cause.
A lawyer owes to society and to the
court the duty not to stir up litigation.
To stir up litigation is a crime known as
maintenance at common law.
UNPROFESSIONAL ACTS
a. Volunteering advice to bring
lawsuit, except in rare cases where
ties of blood, relationship or trust
make it his duty to do so.
b. Hunting up defects in titles or other
causes of action and informing
thereof in order to be employed to
bring suit or collect judgment, or to
breed litigation by seeking out
 those claims for personal injuries or
those having any other grounds of
action in order to secure them as
clients
c. Employing agents or runners for like
purposes
d. Paying reward directly or indirectly
to those who bring or influence the
bringing of such cases to his office
e. Remunerating policemen, court or
prison officials, physicians, hospital
attaches or others who may
succeed under the guise of giving
disinterested friendly advice, in
influencing the criminal, sick and
the injured, the ignorant or others
to seek professional services
f. Searching for unknown heirs and
soliciting their employment of him
g. Initiating a meeting of the members
of club and inducing them to
organize and contest litigation
under his guidance
h. Purchasing notes to collect them by
litigation at a profit
i. Furnishing credit reports in
expectation of possible employment
j. Agreeing with a purchaser of future
interests to invest therein in
consideration of his services
AMBULANCE CHASING refers to the
solicitation of almost any kind of legal
business by laymen employed by an
attorney for the purpose or by the
attorney himself.
RECOGNIZED EVILS FROM AMBULANCE
CHASING
a. Fomenting of litigation with
resulting burdens on the courts and
the public
b. Subornation of perjury
c. Mulcting of innocent persons by
judgments, upon manufactured
causes of actions
d. Defrauding of injured persons
having proper causes of action but
ignorant of legal rights and court
procedure by means of contracts
which retain exorbitant percentages
of recovery and illegal charges for
court costs and expenses and by
settlement made for quick returns
of fees and against the just rights of
the injured persons
Rule 1.04 A lawyer shall encourage his
clients to avoid, end or settle a controversy if
it will admit a fair settlement.
The useful function of a lawyer is not
only to conduct litigation but to avoid it
where possible, by advising settlement
or withholding suit.
He should be a mediator for concord
and a conciliator for compromise
rather than an instigator of controversy
and a predator of conflict, a true
exponent of the primacy of truth
and moral justice rather than a
virtuoso of technicality in the conduct
of litigation.
A compromise is as often the better
part of justice as prudence is the better
part of valor
A lawyer who encourages compromise
is no less the clients champion in
settlement out of court than he is the
clients champion in the battle in
court.
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.
A lawyer who accepts professional
employment should be in a position to
render efficient and effective legal
assistance, otherwise he should help
find another lawyer who is qualified
and able to do so.
A lawyer who is qualified to provide
efficient legal services should make
available such services to those who
are in need thereof.
 A person in need of legal services
should be able to find a lawyer who is
qualified to provide them. It is the
responsibility of the bar to make such
services available. A wide gap exists
between the need and its satisfaction.
Reasons:
a. Poverty and the consequent
inability to pay
b. Ignorance not only of the need
of legal services but also of
where to find a competent and
dependable lawyer
Rule 2.01 A lawyer shall not reject, except
for valid reasons, the cause of the
defenseless or the oppressed.
Stems from one of the obligations
incident to the status and privileges of
a lawyer, which is to represent the poor
and the oppressed in the prosecution
of their claims or the defense of their
rights.
Empowers the court to require him to
render professional services to any
party in a case, if the party is without
means to employ an attorney and the
services of a lawyer are necessary to
protect the rights of such party or
secure the ends of justice, or to
designate him as
counsel de oficio for an accused if the
latter is unable to employ a counsel de
parte.
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
latters right.
LEGAL AID not a matter of charity. It
is a means for the correction of social
imbalance that may and often do lead
to injustice, for which reason it is a
public responsibility of the Bar.
Advising what preliminary steps to take
until he shall have secured the services
of counsel.
He should refrain from giving such
legal advice if the reason for not
accepting the case is that he labors
under conflict of interests between him
and a prospective client or between a
present client and a prospective client
because extending such legal advice
will create and establish an attorney-
client relationship between them and
may involve violation of the rule
prohibiting a lawyer from representing
conflicting interests.
Rule 2.03 A lawyer shall not do or permit to
be done any act designed primarily to solicit
legal business.
The law prohibits lawyers from
soliciting cases for the purposes of
gain, either personally or through paid
agents or brokers and makes the act
malpractice.
Professional touting a lawyer who
recommends employment of himself,
his partner, associate, or member of
his legal staff to a non-lawyer who has
not sought his advice regarding
employment of a lawyer; or
compensates and gives anything of
value to a person or organization to
recommend or secure his employment
of a client or as a reward for having
made a recommendation resulting in
his employment by a client.
A lawyer who agrees with a non-lawyer
to divide attorneys fees paid by clients
supplied or solicited by the non-lawyer
is guilty of malpractice.
Rule 2.04 A lawyer shall not charge rates
lower than those customarily prescribed
unless the circumstance so warrant.
What the rule prohibits is the
competition in the matter of charging
professional fees for the purpose of
attracting clients in favor of the lawyer
who offers lower rates.
This rule does not prohibit a lawyer
from charging a reduced fee or none at
 all to an indigent or to a person who
would have difficulty paying the fee
usually charged for such services.
CANON 3 A lawyer in making known his
legal services shall use only true,
honest, fair, dignified and objective
information or statement of facts.
A lawyer should not resort to indirect
advertisements, such as furnishing or
inspiring newspaper comments or
procuring his photograph to be
published in connection with causes in
which the lawyer has been or is
engaged or concerning the manner of
their conduct, the magnitude of the
interest involved, the importance of
the lawyers position and other like
self-laudations.
EXAMPLES:
1. The use of a card
2. Causing to be published in a
newspaper an advertisement
3. The distribution of a diary or
appointment book which has an
attorneys card printed in the cover
or of a circular concerning specific
fields of law in which a lawyer will
engage in or containing a digest of
laws on a particular subject with the
lawyers name and address.
4. Posing for photographs of incidents
connected with a case which a
lawyer is handling, the photographs
to be used as illustrations in a
newspaper article or securing such
photographs with his name, address
and vocation to be published by
paying the cost thereof or a
newspapers repeated publication
of a laudatory announcement
regarding an attorney
5. Procuring a lawyers name to be
written in an automobile insurance
or other policy
6. Accompanying an announcement of
the opening or transferring a law
office with a statement that the
members thereof intend to
specialize in certain types of legal
work
7. Requesting business from other
lawyers seeking employment from
those other than his clients
benefited in a test case
8. A newspaper ad
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.
Law partnership is a mere
association of lawyers for such purpose
and is a non-legal entity; it is not a
business partnership which has a legal
entity under the Civil Code. It is not a
taxpayer, even if such law partnership
is registered with the SEC.
In the formation of such partnership,
no person should be admitted or held
out as a member who is not a lawyer.
Nor may a group of lawyers hold
themselves out as partners when, in
fact, they are not or when no
partnership actually exists.
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.
Reason: All of the partners by their
joint efforts over a period of years
contributed to the goodwill attached to
the firm name, and this good will is
disturbed by a change in firm name
every time a partner dies.
The rule abandoned the doctrine laid
down in a case to the effect that upon
the death of a partner, his name should
be dropped from the firm name, for the
charge that it is being retained as part
of the firm name to improperly exploit
 its advertising value can hardly be continuing legal education programs,
avoided. support efforts to achieve high
Filipino lawyers cannot practice law standards in law schools as well as in
under the name of a foreign law firm, the practice training of the law students
as the latter cannot practice law in the and assist in disseminating the law and
Philippines and the use of the foreign jurisprudence.
law firm in the country is unethical. For it is the bounden duty of counsel in
the active practice to keep abreast of
Rule 3.03 Where a partner accepts public decisions of the Supreme Court and
office, he shall withdraw from the firm and his changes in the law.
name shall be dropped from the firm name It is imperative that judges should be
unless the law allows him to practice law conversant with basic legal principles
currently. and with the changes in the law and
PURPOSE: To prevent the law firm from with the latest decisions and
using his name to attract legal precedents.
business and to avoid suspicion of THREE-FOLD OBLIGATION
undue influence. 1. He owes to himself to continue
improving his knowledge of the law
Rule 3.04 A lawyer shall not pay or give 2. He owes it to his profession to take
anything of value to representatives of the an active interest in the
mass media in anticipation of, or in return for, maintenance of high standards of
publicity to attract legal business. legal obligation
It is improper for a lawyer to resort to 3. He owes it to the lay public to make
the law a part of its social
adroit propaganda to secure media
consciousness
publicity for the purpose of attracting
MANDATORY CONTINUING LEGAL
legal business.
PURPOSE: To prevent some lawyers EDUCATION (MCLE)
Purposes:
from gaining an unfair advantage over 1. Ensure that throughout their career,
others through the use of gimmickry, they keep abreast with law and
press agentry or other artificial means jurisprudence
PROHIBITIONS: Making indirect 2. Maintain the ethics of the
publicity gimmick, such as furnishing profession
or inspiring newspaper comments, 3. Enhance the standards of the
procuring his photograph to be practice of law
published in connection with cases
which he is handling, making a Members of the IBP not exempt under
courtroom scene to attract the Rule 7 shall complete 3 years at least
attention of the newspapermen or 36 hours of continuing legal education
arranging for the purpose an interview activities with appropriate penalties for
with him by media people. failure to do so.

CANON 4 A lawyer shall participate in CANON 6 These canons shall apply to

the development of the legal system by
initiating or supporting efforts in law
reform and in the improvement of the
administration of justice.
CANON 5 A lawyer shall keep abreast
of legal developments, participate in
the lawyers in government services in
the discharge of their tasks.
REASON: a lawyer does not shed his
professional obligations upon his
assuming public office.
As government counsel, they have the
added duty to abide by the policy of
 the State to promote a high standard
of ethics in public service.
As part of government bureaucracy, it
is incumbent upon lawyers to perform
and discharge their duties with the
highest degree of professionalism,
intelligence and skill and to extend
prompt, courteous and adequate
service to the public.
PRINCIPLE IN PUBLIC LAW: A public
office is a public trust and a public
servant owes utmost fidelity to the
public service.
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.
PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
- a quasi-judicial officer
- a representative not of an ordinary
party to a controversy but of a
sovereignty whose obligation to
govern impartially is as compelling
as its obligation to govern at all;
and whose interest, therefore, in a
criminal prosecution is not that it
shall win a case but that justice
shall be done.
- TWO-FOLD AIM: Guilt shall not
escape or innocence suffer
- DUTY: Not to convict but to see
that justice is done
- He owes to the state, the court and
the accused the duty to lay before
the court the pertinent facts at this
disposal with methodical and
meticulous attention, clarifying
contradictions and filling up gaps
and loopholes in his evidence to the
end that the courts mind may not
be tortured by doubts, the innocent
may not suffer and the guilty may
not escape unpunished.
- He should not hesitate to
recommend to the court the
accuseds acquittal if the evidence
in his possession shows that the
accused is innocent. If on appeal by
the accused from a conviction by
the trial court he finds no legal
basis to sustain the conviction, he
should not also hesitate to
recommend that the accused be
acquitted.
- His finest hour is still when,
overcoming the advocates natural
obsession for victory, he stands up
before the court and pleads not for
the conviction of the accused but
for his acquittal. For indeed, his
noble task is to prosecute only the
guilty and to protect the innocent.
RESTRICTIONS ON THE FUNCTIONS OF
PUBLIC PROSECUTORS
1. Public prosecutors should not allow,
and should avoid, giving the
impression that their noble office is
being used or prostituted wittingly
or unwittingly, for political ends or
other purposes alien to, or
subversive of, the basic and
fundamental objective of serving
the litigants alike, whether rich or
poor, weak or strong, powerless or
mighty.
2. A public prosecutor should
prosecute with earnestness and
vigor.
3. Refrain from improper methods
calculated to produce a wrongful
conviction as it is to use every
legitimate means to bring about a
just one.
4. He should not offer as proof of the
accuseds guilt illegally seized or
acquired evidence, nor suppress
facts or conceal witnesses capable
of establishing the innocence of the
accused.
5. He should not consent to any undue
delay in the prosecution of action; it
is his duty to see to it that a person
on trial is not deprived of his
statutory or legal rights.
6. 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.
7. It is improper for a public
prosecutor to:
a. assist in the escape of the
prisoner
b. institute a criminal action to
force settlement of a case
c. agree to refrain from
prosecuting a person
consideration of some award
d. receive money for dismissing a
complaint
e. induce an accused to plead
guilty
f. willfully fail to prosecute
violations of law
g. have a secret partner with whom
he divides the attorneys fees.
F Ruben Agpalpo
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
in
employment in connection with any matter in
which he had intervened while in the said
service