COURT OBSERVATION; OUTPUT;

ProposedTitle: Court Sneak peek

Truly, the best way to learn is to let you experience it yourself.

It is probably because experience allows you to discover a new
perspective which you might have never seen before. It enables you
to see the reality which is an application of all the theories and
foundations you have read in textbooks. It concretizes what you
have read and learned in your classroom. Giving life to your once
“black and white” picture of your books which makes your journey
more vibrant and exciting.

That is why Judge Janice Yulo-Antero, our professor in

Apprenticeship Class last semester, tasked us to attend and
observe court proceedings for 120 hours. We were advised to attend
her court which is located at 3rd floor of Manila City Hall, RTC
Branch 16. Court Proceeding usually starts 8:30 in the morning
and 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Then we have to request the Branch
clerk to issue Certification of Appearance and court calendar as
proof and equivalent of our attendance. We were also encouraged to
attend other courts and have a picture together with the judge as
additional compliance to our requirement.

The general concept and rationale that we should go through

this court observation is experience. As Aristotle wrote “for the
things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing
them.” This articulated educational approach of learning through
experience which is more specifically defined as learning through
reflection on doing. Hands-on learning where students involved
themselves on reflecting on their product. Like culinary students
you teach them to cook by cooking. The same with us law students,
we learn to understand the law by letting us to attend court
proceeding, observe the realm of judiciary so we can fully
understand how to interpret our procedural law and interrelate it to
our substantive law.
 The function of the courts is to settle actual controversies
involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable. The
court also carries the symbolic function of educating the bench and
the bar on the extent of protection given by constitutional
guarantees (Salonga vs Ernani Cruz Pano et al., 219 Phil 402, 1958)

The last semester had been particularly exhausting, kind of

draining but it was very fruitful and the award-winning feeling to
accomplished the 120 hours apprenticeship. Whenever I think over
the first time I have been in the court, I can still feel and tell the
excitement and expectations I’ve experienced.

During the semester, I was able to attend different branches of

RTC in Manila. There are regular courts like the court of our
professor. Branch 5 is a Family Court the presiding Judge is Hon.
Emily Gito, which usually handles Declaration of nullity cases and
Children in Conflict with the Law regularly called CICL cases,
additionally that court is a pilot court for the continuous trial. It is
practiced for the early and expeditious disposition of a case. The
trial, once commence shall continue from day to day as far as
practicable until it terminated. Whereas, Supreme Court made its
resolution in A.M. No. 15-06-10-SC. Furthermore, there is Branch
14, every time I show up in this court I conceivably think they
handled and mostly being raffled of Drug cases, presided by Judge
Tenorio.

Honestly, I would really really wanted to attend a court where

they tried cases of Rape and some sensational cases. I wanted to
witness how the lawyers will conduct their direct and cross
examinations and how will they correlate their evidences as proof to
the stories of their clients. Unfortunately, we were advised by the
branch clerks that sometimes the judge won’t allow outsiders
because it was serious and confidential matters.

The litigation was like a level-up version of class recitation and

debate. There were some lawyers that were uneasy in front of the
judge maybe those were newly passed lawyers or new to the field of
litigation, on the other hand there were also lawyers that were so
very well prepared, very look smart and very fluent on their English.
I began to realized that the recitations during class is our training
grounds for much bigger and extreme battle when we become
lawyers and appear in court.

Formerly in my Evidence class, I had no idea on what and how

a direct and a cross examination is, and how will you offer
testimonial evidence. Thanks to this court observation, I was able to
answer in a recitation. At some time, I was called by my professor to
formulate a formal offer of testimony; surely did I hit the mark on
making a simple offer. It was surely recognized by my professor. If I
would only base my answer on the textbook, I think I wasn’t able to
answer it. This is thanks to the admirable lawyers that I encounter
in my apprenticeship.

Court observation is a helpful tool to law students to fully

visualize and apprehends our textbooks. It will develop and increase
our productivity and improve the quality of understanding and
mastery of our law and statutes. For the love of Remedial Law,
these court proceedings are the movie adaptation of our rules of
court.

Above everything, I learned how important it is for law

students to seriously take this court observation because it is not
only where we see the stories in our textbooks and codals come
alive. It is also like a rehearsal, of what our tomorrow might look
like when at our time, we step inside the court as lawyers for our
clients. Through perseverance and hard work we can accomplish
our dreams and goals.

Through this experiential learning, we will become aware to

our own lacking and to fill this void of knowledge, update ourselves
with jurisprudence and statutes. Being a lawyer is not easy. We
should always take this seriously be stricter and discipline in our
studies. We should have more time reading textbooks and cases,
discipline study habits. For the next time we enter the court room,
we are now the lawyers that are being look upon and being observe
giving animation to the motionless words of textbooks to the next
generation of lawyers.