The Fledgling Lawyer

Bright, Fine Day

2011-10-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Forgive me for not confiding what had happened since late last year. My life was in a complete turnaround ever since I decided to escape the hubris of city life and transferred here in Mindanao. I remember how I left my apartment in Quezon City. The night before my flight to Davao, all my possessions were in a clutter, and that night one thing was clear, I was packing up my messed up life. My clothes were in disarray and i had practically no idea what to bring and what to leave behind. But then again I was bound to leave and whether I bring all what is necessary or not was no longer a thought that has stuck at the back of my mind. And so I left for that 7 am flight the following day with myself tugging along bulging and worn out bags as well as the fickleness of mind, unsure what this life-altering decision of mine was leading me to.

I found myself loving Davao City, though, where I am based now. I have no family here, only a few newfound friends. I worked for a Non-Government Organization working for indigenous people's rights and climate justice. From January to May, I tried to immerse myself in issues concerning land rights of IPs and the right of the people to a clean and healthy environment. I began to love my work as an environmental lawyer especially the visits to IP communities we assisted which entailed traveling along difficult and dangerous roads in habal-habal (motorcycles) to reach remote villages under threat from mining and power companies.

My trip to Lake Sebu was the most memorable and it challenged all of my perceptions on lawyering. At one point, when the habal-habal I was riding fell down near a cliff I asked myself what I was doing with my career. But then again I began to realize that it is in this kind or sphere of work that lawyers are most needed and where only a few has dared to dip their hands into. Lawyers must endeavor to empower people by allowing them to understand the law for them to know their rights as well as their responsibilities. I am privileged to experience.
alternative lawyering of this kind. I have many plans then and for once in my still budding professional life, I have found direction until the NGO ran out of funds and had to close down its Mindanao offices.

From June to middle of September, I was unemployed and I felt lost. Lost in the middle of the sea, I had to find strength to swim ashore. Depression set in and like before when it hits me, I was almost always like a rat trapped in a maze. Sometimes I laugh at the thought of myself being likened to a mimosa folding its leaves inward and drooping when shook. At one point, I was embarrassed after being told by one doctor after another, that this is all about me and the cure to all of these is in me. It is difficult to find the cure then, I say.

I write before I start to work on so many assignments here in my flat. I found work now still with an NGO with a different advocacy but still working on the same principles of alternative lawyering. It gives me the luxury of working at home to finish pleadings, many of which are now waiting in line to get finished, in between visits to the comfort room to pee; while I struggle to tolerate the throbbing pain in my head and to balance myself when standing; while the noise of the siren of an ambulance passing along the road near this flat distracts me; while I look at the bright blue sky and the scattered clouds drifting upon it; and while I say to myself that this is a one bright, fine day for me to relish and enjoy. Tomorrow maybe a different weather.

Avoid the Unreal

2010-07-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

It is good that it rained. For one, the water shortage may already be a problem of the past and it trapped me here in my room the whole day. I have never felt so much peace in me the past few days than now. That is why I am here indulging yet again in self-stories I have been known of. It has been eons since my last post here in this blog and that so many things had happened in between documented supposedly here in this repository, journal of this fledgling lawyer. No one is visiting me now I must say for the stats have dropped and the few followers might have resented eavesdropping for novelty has passed away and monotony has sunk in the travails of this challenged lawyer.

I have been lucky to visit the United States last month and has not yet chronicled my travel except for a collection of photos of the places I visited I uploaded in my Facebook page. Some of my friends have been nagging me that I put some story in them. But challenged as I am right now in putting my thoughts into words, I cannot say anything to capture the milieu that surrounds me except maybe of the common excuse of a brainless man that is becoming speechless. My almost one month stay in the US was a blessing from God which have resulted to such thoughts as telling myself I am ready to die. It was very hard to believe that I got through one of the most generous scholarships on earth in one of the most renowned educational institutions. Be that as it may, I must accept that dreams do come true and that I must be happy all the time. I did become happy especially that I was able to meet and live with, even for a short while, one of the most special persons in my life right now that is Mom Lydia and Mike. I met Lydia through my other blog, Thirty Thousand Fishes, and was knocked out by this feeling of familiarity and homeliness through her insightful comments of my posts written during the tumultuous period of my Bar review. If I have to believe in reincarnation and the interplay of the cosmos, I must say that I met Lydia in one of the periods of my past life and that she could have been a parent, a sibling, or a best friend. There was this magical feeling when we first met at the Oregon airport together with his husband Mike that I never felt that they were strangers to me but rather that I have missed them for so long and that I am very happy to see them again. I never told Lydia that I cried to myself when I went passed the immigration and could no longer see them from afar when they accompanied me to the airport on my way back home. It may be a while again to see them and only God knows when.
I really had to struggle not only of jetlag but of depression when I went back home. I had relapse of the abdominal pains I have been suffering from for a very long time and it had worsened that I have to force myself to see a doctor. I was so worried that I have focused so much on the pain and the feeling of nearness with death. I have never confided this thing to anyone except to myself, to a very special friend and to Lydia in an email a week ago telling her what I truly feel and that I am very much worried of my health and that I thought I have cancer. When I read her email I broke in tears right then and there in front of my computer reading love and compassion brought to me from miles away. I would always tell Lydia in my email that I love her; that no one really knows me, my thoughts, my aches and pains, my love quarrels with the world except her and that I will always be relieved of them after reading her response.

I have a personality disorder. The truth of the matter is that even before I became a lawyer, I already had to grapple with it in law school, in dealing with a problematic job, and the most challenging periods in my life, the consequences of a dysfunctional family and the death of my grandmother three years ago. I would always ask myself before why can’t I manage the stresses of work now considering that I managed to live with it before. And I would always dwell on that million dollar question and would always fail myself answering it. It is only now that I am beginning to let myself accept the fact that the truth is that I never overcame stress and that I was in denial all the time.

I went to see the results of the tests last Saturday. They were all normal. I was able to find a good doctor who was very patient in being the sounding board of this anxiety. He appeased me and explained that what I am feeling now may be a functional problem and that it is not organic. He would then explain to me that there is no need to undergo further tests right now or a leave from work. I told him that if there is one thing I am happy about is that he did not tell me that I will die soon. The doctor smiled. He knew I think through his eyes that here is a man in his young age who is too much concerned with death when he has the world to live. I had to thank the doctor for all his concern and for prescribing me anti-depressant which he mentioned during my first visit.

If you will ask me if I love my profession right now, I must say I will have second thoughts in answering yes. I must say that the fire burning in me, the passion in me is slowly settling down. To you who believed in my capabilities and that I would become a great defender someday, the drama is here to stay not in the courtroom or any legal battle but it my unending personal struggle. It came to a point where I became too much burdened that there’s no room left for another. I will not dare to indulge in jus cogens or literary thieves for dinner. I dreamt of being a hero, but reneged on it unconsciously and subsumed myself to a tragic one. I hope and pray that I can find myself with renewed strength and vigor in the process. For the meantime, I will just be here avoiding the unreal.

"Abnormal"

2010-03-18T23:11:00.001-07:00

I have to tell you this while the smoke of memory is still trapped in my foggy mind. I was under the flyover. The massive cement block dark like a starless sky above me, I waited in the middle of that busy highway without a thing in my mind waiting for the signal to beat green. A rush of energy suddenly flowed within me from nowhere taking away the pain, the worries and the ghosts that haunt me. Then the go signal. A mute brisk. There was the homeless man almost hunch back sporting a toothless smile a worthless effort of begging from people passing the busy road. I was happy to see him. I was ecstatic to see the embers of a dying soul ignite a life. I ran and saw secret lives passing through the corners of my eyes. Beads of sweat dropped slowly to the ground. The ground was nourished by sweat because the rain has done a great abandon.

Few hours ago two women were in my sight languishing from pain. They sought help because of desperation. They talked about connections, of buying judgments, of having developed profound mistrust. I talked of keeping faith when I know very well that it is like now when everybody prays for rain and nothing else comes but futile promise of rain clouds that quickly dissipate in the skies.

I write about the city

2010-02-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

Smoldering heat one early morning. You could feel it touching your skin burning it easily like paper. There’s no way to cool yourself but to think of mirages of beaches, of rain, of ice; to quench your thirst for life in a city full of busy streets, busy minds, busy people, busy hearts. I envy the skies, the stagnant air, the dried leaf that drifts above the street, the train, and the long road way back home.

To Love or Not To Love

2010-01-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

Like waves that rush up the shore and retreat back to the sea, I am now bothered with the thought of whether I will let myself drift in the sea and find the sweetness of love ashore or just permanently there at the sea, alone, waiting for the rain to come by.

Bringing Back the Music

2010-01-27T01:01:00.000-08:00

I will bring you dear Nicolo with me when I return to the city. I will wake you up from somber and finish your dirty surface back to its shining glory. Sorry if I abandoned you. You didn’t know how the years that passed lingered in my mind with you mesmerizing me, of your sorrowful music, of your nostalgic cries. You were there for all those days that I wept for bitterness. I am away when you want me to play your golden strings.

I will bring you back dear Nicolo. You will play both in my heart and mind.

To Speak

2010-01-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

You told me that I came first to your mind when you were planning on who will speak and grace your festivities. I was reluctant and told you that I could no longer indulge in real-time self-stories after I realized that my life was as good and bad like any else’s. But I gave in anyway for my distraught father’s pride.

Then I thought about speaking. I digress instantly. From where I am I tell you justice in this country is dug deep, six feet under and I am at a loss right now finding meaning in this vocation I had rather not chosen. Shall I say you stand guard? But definitely don’t take justice in your hands. Justice to each his own. Find it in the most peaceful and comforting ways and you will learn that this world is full of balance you have never known.

Understanding Me

2010-01-12T05:34:00.001-08:00

I don’t know if I am being narcissistic for thinking of this. I just felt the need that I really need to have to understand myself more for me to conquer my fears. There are things I couldn’t understand. For example, as a lawyer I should now be stronger. My character, fearless. But no. I am still the fragile person always thinking about how to take refuge from the stresses of work, from the pain that comes with this life.
There is still so much to know about me. Can I still indulge on myself when the world needs to be taken cared of, when the universe needs to be discovered and explored? I am a nano-molecule in this universe. I am a nano-molecule trying to understand itself against a gazillion, ad infinitum.

Searching

2009-10-09T01:56:00.000-07:00

Today, I have allowed a widow with little children to be put in jail. How is justice best delivered to the people, I ask. Look me in the eyes, she said. Find me amongst criminals, find me further in the dregs of this society, stop when you find me in a shanty with my little children beside me.

I, too, seemed helpless. Maybe it’s too late for I have found you there, behind bars without your children.

Shaping a Life

2009-10-03T02:17:00.000-07:00

I have a new home. I just transferred hours ago and here I am slouching on the barren floor without a bed or any other muebles. That’s how literally barren my room is. Surrounding me are the bulky travel bags packed with unwashed laundry, thick books, mattresses, shoes, and a life full of unwanted memories. I will start a new a life here while the world continues to turn around as people grieve and live in fear; while nature wretches the living.

I feel so convenient in this new place. My office is just a stone’s throw away, the train could be heard from the distance, the horns of the buses are like buzzing bees. This is a new chapter yet again and this will be repeated soon and over and over as I try to shape a life I don’t understand. As I try to shape a life I do not own.

Legal Implications of the SC Decision in Peñera vs. Comelec

2009-09-17T20:09:00.001-07:00

Facts of the case:

Penera filed her Certificate of Candidacy for local elective position on the afternoon of 29 March 2007, and a day before the start of the campaign period for the May 14, 2007 elections.

Accompanied by a bevy of supporters, [Penera and her partymates] came to the municipal COMELEC office on board a convoy of two (2) trucks and an undetermined number of motorcycles, laden with balloons ad [sic] posters/banners containing names and pictures and the municipal positions for which they were seeking election. Installed with [sic] one of the trucks was a public speaker sound subsystem which broadcast [sic] the intent the [sic] run in the coming elections. The truck had the posters of Penera attached to it proclaiming his [sic] candidacy for mayor.

Issues: Whether or not [Penera] has engaged in an election campaign or partisan political activity outside the campaign period.

Decision:

Penera violated the Omnibus Election Code which prohibits premature campaigning. The prohibited act of premature campaigning is defined under Section 80 of the Omnibus Election Code, to wit:

SECTION 80. Election campaign or partisan political activity outside campaign period. — It shall be unlawful for any person, whether or not a voter or candidate, or for any party, or association of persons, to engage in an election campaign or partisan political activity except during the campaign period: Provided, That political parties may hold political conventions or meetings to nominate their official candidates within thirty days before the commencement of the campaign period and forty-five days for Presidential and Vice-Presidential election.

Penalty for premature campaigning is disqualification. Sec. 68 of the said Code provides:

SECTION. 68. Disqualifications. - Any candidate who, in an action or protest in which he is a party is declared by final decision of a competent court guilty of, or found by the Commission of having xxx (e) violated any of Sections 80, 83, 85, 86 and 261, paragraphs d, e, k, v, and cc, subparagraph 6, shall be disqualified from continuing as a candidate, or if he has been elected, from holding the office. Any person who is a permanent resident of or an immigrant to a foreign country shall not be qualified to run for any elective office under this Code, unless said person has waived his status as permanent resident or immigrant of a foreign country in accordance with the residence requirement provided for in the election laws.

Important points that need to be noted:

1. Premature campaigning as defined in the Omnibus Election Code could be committed not only by a candidate but by any person.

2. What is premature campaigning?

Answer: Premature campaigning is understood to be the conduct of election campaign or partisan political activity outside of the campaign period.

3. When is the campaign period?

Answer: For a complete listing of the calendar of activities set by Comelec for the 2010 Automated Elections visit: http://www.comelec.gov.ph/modernization_/2010_natl_local/Calendar_of_Activities.html

4. What constitutes election campaign or partisan political activity?

Answer: Section 79(b) of the Omnibus Election Code defines election campaign or partisan political activity in the following manner:

SECTION 79. Definitions. - As used in this Code:

x x x x

(b) The term "election campaign" or "partisan political activity" refers to an act designed to promote the election or defeat of a particular candidate or candidates to a public office which shall include:

(1) Forming organizations, associations, clubs, committees or other groups of persons for the purpose of soliciting votes and/or undertaking any campaign for or against a candidate;

(2) Holding political caucuses, conferences, meetings, rallies, parades, or other similar assemblies, for the purpose of soliciting votes and/or undertaking any campaign or propaganda for or against a candidate;

(3) Making speeches, announcements or commentaries, or holding interviews for or against the election of any candidate for public office;

(4) Publishing or distributing campaign literature or materials designed to support or oppose the election of any candidate; or

(5) Directly or indirectly soliciting votes, pledges or support for or against a candidate.

5. When is a person officially considered a candidate in order to commit premature campaigning and be penalized by disqualification for its commission?

Answer: A person, upon the filing of his/her COC, already explicitly declares his/her intention to run as a candidate in the coming elections. Thus, considered as a candidate for purposes of committing premature campaigning.

6. Periods to reckon with:

Under RA 8436, as amended by RA 9369:

Sec. 15. “x x x Any person who files his certificate of candidacy within this period (deadline set by Comelec for the filing of Certificates of Candidacy) shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy” Provided, That, unlawful acts or omissions applicable to a candidate shall effect only upon the start of the aforesaid campaign period x x x”

7. What are the implications of this decision in light of the many infomercials being plugged by aspirants in the 2010 elections?

Answer: It is the filing by the person of his/her COC through which he/she explicitly declares his/her intention to run as a candidate in the coming elections. It is such declaration which would color the subsequent acts of said person to be election campaigning or partisan political activities as described under Section 79(b) of the Omnibus Election Code. It bears to point out that, at this point, no politician has yet submitted his/her COC. Also, the plain solution to this rather misplaced apprehension is for the politicians themselves to adhere to the letter and intent of the law and keep within the bounds of fair play in the pursuit of their candidacies. This would mean that after filing their COCs, the prudent and proper course for them to take is to wait for the designated start of the campaign period before they commence their election campaign or partisan political activities. Indeed, such is the only way for them to avoid disqualification on the ground of premature campaigning.

Dreaming of a Hero

2009-09-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

Maybe it’s because I have romanticized a character so captured in Atticus Finch. Maybe because I see a lot of injustice seething in every corner I pass through. Maybe because I experienced so much pain and suffering in my life first-hand and that I very well know where the destitute, the impoverished, the abused, the ordinary people seeking justice are coming from.

I will embark on a journey less traveled. I am settled with myself that I have come this far for a reason. I saw the meaning in my life right on this very day when I handed a pleading to an OFW who was very distraught about what the future will bring. I don’t want the riches of this world. I want to help people.

There was extreme happiness in me. I see a hero in the eyes of the people I meet. From this day on, I will start to dream again from the rubbles and with the end of rebuilding what’s destroyed.

I will be dreaming of a hero in every battle for justice. For them I will live. For them I will dream.

Pre-Week Bar Tips

2009-08-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

I really don’t know if I am of the authority to give these Bar tips and make all those who happen to read this follow and put the blame later on me for failing the exam. First of all, I am only doing this out of experience and on the basis that applying whatever method (sic) or perspective at that has seen me passing the bar, no sweat. I am not bragging about anything, please understand that such statement was made out of the afterthought that I came to the bar site and took the exam with only a fraction of legal concepts and jurisprudence in my memory and holy cow I passed. So without further ado, here are the practical, realistic and doable things you may want to consider to do before you take the exam, while taking it, and the days in between Sundays.

1. By now, most of you I know are cramming hehe. Most of you I am sure are bombarded ith different and varying assumptions and guesses and well, predictions on what the examiners will ask come the bar exam. Please shut your ears for a while to this hullabaloo. Listening to them will all the more distract you. What you need is focus! How to do this? Well, given the very very short time left for you to gather all what you studied in law school, your readings during the review, and the lectures and handouts if you attended a formal review program, the best thing to do is to find the perfect material to sum it all up. In my case, I find the San Beda Red Notes very, very helpful. It summarizes salient points, key concepts you can apply in every question imaginable on a particular subject. It is handy yet it allows you to be in the right perspective in order for you to answer every question on the topic/subject, if I my say, correctly or maybe close to that. Well, as you know for sure it doesn’t matter if your answer is right on the dot what really matters is that it makes sense to the examiner. San Beda Red Notes will allow you to do just that. UP Law Center Bar Review handouts are likewise a good choice. What I did is that with the voluminous handouts they give, I picked those which explain the fundamentals of a subject. Get down to the basics and you will never go wrong. It will be your salvation believe me!

2.Condition your physical, emotional, spiritual and what have you states. This is self-explanatory. However, how parsimonious the statement is it is rather quite difficult to accomplish. You know yourself better and I am limited to awakening you from whatever slumber you are in by telling you that the bar exam is here! Hey it’s here, wake up! Come on, the waiting period is over. In my case, a week before the exam I had this terrible stomach cramps caused by an overwhelming stress most of you have now. I temporarily got rid of this by taking Maalox. It eased the pain two days before the exam but it will always recur in the middle of the week. What I did was I prayed a lot. Hang on to whatever faith you have. When all else fails your spirituality really matters. We had this ritual of going to the Church of the Holy Sacrifice at UP Diliman every morning during Saturdays before the exam. It helped a lot because it gave me a boost and the reason to continue the battle. God will never leave you in distress if your intentions are true. Before taking the exam, ascertain to yourself that you will do your best whatever happens. Promise to yourself and to God that you will never give up and that you will finish the battle. Likewise, before taking the exams believe that you will pass. Tell yourself that you will pass it in a loud voice. Repeat it over and over. Clear your thoughts! What you have in mind right now should only be the bar and nothing else. Thinking of other problems or others’ problems is a no-no. Be positive even only for this period. If you’re already short on your finances call me and I will help you (just joking) don’t think much about it. Imagine that it will come by later through manna after you take the exam. If resources are really not at hand, pray for a miracle who knows the universe is really conspiring in your favor and will help you produce it, no sweat. By now, everything must be ready: IDs and permits, tech-pens (you know me and my friend who also passed the bar used blue Dong-a .5 tech-pens, you will never go wrong with blue especially when your penmanship is not that pleasing to the eyes), your clothes to wear (I don’t know if it helped me but I wore yellow during the four Sundays) be sure that you are comfortable with your clothes don’t dress up much because you’re not attending a party neither a formal event. You can wear slippers if you’re comfortable with it, your food during the exams and during lunch-breaks, having a chocolate bar while taking the exam is more than a sugar rush it maintained my focus and energy to answer the exam. Naku malaking tulong ito. Sinasabi ko sa inyo. Choco bar and Gatorade. Brain boosters! For lunch, our school provided a not so appetizing menu, but you know it helped because it didn’t make us full. You shouldn’t eat too much during lunch. Hwag nyong busugin masyado ang tyan nyo dahil makakatulog kayo sa hapon. I tell you, one of my seatmates literally slept in one of those afternoons without finishing the exam.

3. Me and my friend stayed in a hotel near the bar site. We managed to find a hotel along Malvar St. called Malvar Hostel. It is a three star hotel. The place is soooo conducive for studying a day before the exams and for having sufficient sleep. If you’re planning to stay in a hotel and you haven’t found one yet, I suggest you go to Malvar Hostel who knows it really gives luck to those who stay in it. Well, me and my friend were only the ones who stayed in the hotel who took the bar and we both passed. You wouldn’t go wrong there. Their rates are at Php 1,980 at that time, but you can haggle with the friendly manager that you will forego the free breakfast and have the rate slashed at Php 1,780. Me and my friend shared in the deluxe room upstairs so we only paid 800+ each for a night’s stay. We stayed at Room 204. Hehe

4. Be CONFIDENT during the exams. I told one friend that one of the things which helped me is that I am too, over, confident while taking the exams. If there’s a proper place, venue wherein you can go high with your pride it is during the bar exams and not during debates in law school. Pour all the pride you’ve got. You won’t believe me, but I always finish answering thirty minutes ahead the time. I tell you I am always the early bird in the exam room all throughout the four Sundays not because I know everything that are being asked and I am certain that what I answered are all correct but because of yabang. Hehe and of course of having the right perspective of doing all things I previously mentioned. Being mayabang during the bar is very appropriate if only to maintain your focus. Do it. I am sure you will pass.

5. How to answer? My answers are very direct and concise, ganun ba. If a question asks for a yes or no? I start my answer with a yes or no followed by the explanation which is rather based on a specific law/legal concept I remember or based on jurisprudence. My mastery of the fundamental laws really helped me answer the questions in a direct and concise manner. My answers are outlined in this manner. Yes or No – Legal Basis –Conclusion. If I am not really sure of the answer meaning the question is quite trivial to me, I think of a related law/legal concept related to the matter at issue and write my answer in the same vein. Yes-or-No- Legal basis – Conclusion. When I am confronted with a very very trivial question like what is a hard law or a soft law, I view it in the perspective of common knowledge and start from there. Hard meaning matigas. hehe. .How is hard usually interpreted in legal terms meaning strict or legalistic ang pagtingin yung ganun ba. When all else fails just answer what you know with all your heart and pray to God.

And now you’re ready. Slay the dragon. Dream, Believe and Survive as a popular TV contest properly puts it. The practice of law is just a stone’s throw away, IT IS waiting there at the other end. The promise of practicing law is knocking right at your doorstep and it is for you to open or have that door closed and wait for another point in time where it will be there knocking again but why wait when you can open the doors now. Di ba? Time is precious. Fear not the bar. Take it easy. Make the bar easy on yourself. Pretending may be inappropriate for you but it is rather an easy path to take, an easy option without having risks to take (because you’ve taken all the risks already and there’s no room for additional risks anymore hehe) when the bomb is about to explode. So try to pretend when the situation necessitates it won’t harm you.

What's in a Holiday?

2009-08-21T00:20:00.001-07:00

What’s in a holiday? Not so much except for frizzy hair and wet mattresses caused by a seemingly lethargic system getting more and more bored of life at the moment. The bed is as good as a deathbed for precious time and fertile thinking were it not for holidays which fragment this fledgling lawyer’s life like a forgotten page in a newspaper loosely drifting in a ghastly corner of a street.

No work means no life for me, sadly. No work means a sluggish life in this humid apartment only ventilated by a wall fan which punctured in its place an enormous picture of two felines looking straight at the other end of the room which happens to be large windows now covered thickly with dirt. No work means thinking many lugubrious thoughts and plans which will in the end ruin my day. No work is self-destructive.

The past few weeks have seen me less court appearances much of writing pleadings and legal opinions. This is punctuated by a brief meeting with a client at the close of the week consulting many trivial legal questions. Being wealthy really has its price and being in such kind of stature breeds a paradoxical animosity between same bloods. Being wealthy breeds greed and apathy and that’s how the Civil Code provisions on Wills and Succession and lawyers of course come in. Settling their disputes makes me feel awkward but at the same time makes me appreciate the beauty and wisdom of the law on heirship which I loathe back in law school.

My senior has this knack of illustrating their respective shares on the estate of the patriarch. On the whiteboard she draws a circle divides it into half further divides the half portion by thirteen and shades a piece then tells to the doe-eyed heir: “This will be your share.” My senior breathed an aura of resignation after an hour of talking and talking explaining all legal complications of not settling the estate among themselves. I know she wants to tell them one last thing in a high-pitched tone: “Why don’t you all agree with the darn estate and have your selves enjoy your share till you breath last!” She was able to say it of course but in a courteous manner what do I expect. Between truth and business existence, the latter is more potent in this practice so to speak but being candid sometimes in specific matter pays well. This is a golden rule. It expels the air of opportunism and insincerity and draws the woman sitting opposite to you (eye-to-eye) to inevitably tell with all her enthusiasm: “Ok, how much will it cost? What will be the arrangement? Should I sign papers now?” What a sheer power, made my eyes grow bigger in real time.

And so we got an extra with that deal, another annulment case this time. Keep the cases coming, rainmaker.

Holidays, another one coming next week but I have nowhere to spend it at this time. No way to spend it for one of the loneliest persons ever lived. Nowhere to spend but this room with all of its four corners, with a laptop, with black ants eating fallen crumbs, with a few old newspapers, with a bed, and with nobody. “Nobody, nobody, but you!” Yes, you. Who? Is it okay to plug my number here? Me so pathetic.

Speech, Undelivered

2009-08-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday night was the testimonial dinner for those who passed the bar in my law school. Sadly, wasn’t able to make it because I have a hearing on that same day in the morning. My client on that day was a Chinese lady in her late forties asking for an accounting of her loan with a big bank which already foreclosed her mortgaged property and had it sold to a SPAV.

I thought I am going to be very late on that hearing because I was not able to wake up early but fortunately with the help of traffic-less trains, except for the inconvenience of being neck to neck with people packed inside the coaches, I was only 10 minutes late and to top it all when I arrived together with my client the case being tried before us is not yet finished with the skinhead lawyers still arguing with each other about the case being archived as a result of an agreed settlement before the mediation center.

I can’t disclose more facts but the thing is what excites me in this case is that it has an element of novelty in many ways. I told my client after we had lunch in a Japanese restaurant that the law is on her side in this particular instance notwithstanding her good faith and correct reasoning that it is unjustified for the bank to still demand from her 80 percent of the principal sum despite of having paid more than 90 percent of it. As she correctly pointed out in her testimony, what the bank wants to tell her now is that she has paid less than 10 percent of the principal sum which is really really outrageous.

She has told me a lot of stories about her business and her previous legal concerns while dining but the only thing that stuck in my mind is her B.P. 22 case three years ago as I am very much focused on filling in my hungry stomach which hasn’t tasted breakfast for about three consecutive days already and this is quite bad for my health. So as for me not to appear to have lost my sense of etiquette when dealing with elite people like her, I nod my head every now and then to show my agreement to what she says although I don’t understand them. By the way, Mrs. China is very religious that every time she sends an SMS to me she does not forget to tell me God Bless and God have mercy.

We parted around past 12 noon which happened to have ruined my plans of travelling to Baguio and making it to the testimonial dinner. I remember sending an SMS to one of the organizers of the testimonial describing my current work after having passed the bar while I am in a bus on my way back to the office that was about 4:30 pm. The sky is beaming red while a thunderhead could be seen from afar. I imagine myself standing at the podium looking at people sitting among round tables in a banquet hall.

“Please lend me your ears for only a few minutes. I have some important things to tell. To those who will be taking the bar next year, I just want to tell you that the bar isn’t the bar you are thinking right now. I must tell you that you won’t be able to define what the bar is until you yourself have already experienced it. The bar is more than a journey, a right of passage that will test not only your knowledge about the law but also your emotional strength the latter being the true determinant if you will make it or not. The six-month review starting April is a hellish ride, to put it bluntly. There will be many times that you will ask yourself if you still have the might to continue the battle. In those moments when I begin to ask and question my own capabilities, I felt I was in a vacuum. I was experiencing an existential void. I have mustered law school while working full time in a job which also required a lot of effort from me letting me think and think more trying to rob a lot of precious time which I should have devoted to reading books and understanding the law. I graduated while doing a high-wire act. It’s a feat that should have tide me over in those six torturing months but, alas, it was not strong enough to shield me over a tempest that is the bar. Law school sucked but the bar sucked even more.

The bar exam is really uncalled for. I have seen many fought so hard just to be refused admission to the bar. I once told myself why can’t we just all pass for the hard work. But it is the reality you must face when it’s your turn to take the exam. A reality that should sink in deeply in your thoughts in order to awaken you from complacency I am sure most of you have now. You must prepare yourself for the battle even this early. The most basic question that you should ask yourself now is whether you’re emotionally ready. The bar is an emotionally charged experience even for the impassive.
I must say this to you: You will pass the bar if you think and believe so! You have studied for four years in law school just to be denied admission because of human frailty; of not being a walking library. Not even the examiners nor the Supreme Court Justices could say that they know and understand all the laws. What the bar exam wants to gauge from you is “entry level knowledge”. We have good foundation in the fundamental laws through our good professors and if that’s what the bar wants from us then definitely we must all pass but practically the exam is completely different from what it is supposed to test.

The bar is like a quiz show. They could pick a question hiding somewhere from those voluminous laws. Your armour for the bar really are the remnants of all what you’ve read, studied, and understood in all those four years and definitely not in the review. What the review must do for you is to reinforce what you have studied in law school. It should not be a venue for new information for if it is you are doomed to fail lest you will really do extraordinary ways in reviewing beyond a human brain’s capacity.

Let me be the harbinger of doom and failure if need be. Let me ruin your evening if that’s how I’ll make you realize the need for you to prepare yourself this early. All of my friends sitting in front of you have also been there, they could attest to the truth behind the bar.

If in the middle of the review, prostrate you will feel, remember the promise of joining the law profession and being a disciple of justice, the most valuable laurel you will earn beyond anything material and tangible. The trust and respect of people, things you will never earn instantly in any other way than passing the bar. Remember your motivations and inspirations. Remember the people who love and care for you. Remember the Lord who will never leave you in distress if your intentions are true.

I stand here this evening to tell you the extent of happiness I feel now, the sense of fulfillment, that even with overwhelming responsibilities I carry with me now, I stand proud and brave because I know I am no longer the student helpless to change things for the better. I stand proud and brave because with a little effort I can now make a big difference in the lives of others.

Thank you and good night!”

Lawyer Minus the Briefcase

2009-07-04T02:33:00.001-07:00

Mom was very thoughtful to give me that special link in her blog with the picture of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s briefcase. The picture beguiled me for a while that I can’t take off my eyes on it after minutes of reconnaissance. In the briefcase etched a monogram that named its owner and his address but apparently though the address indicated was that of Fitzgerald’s publisher.

I have my own bag right now which someone gifted me. It is made of synthetic leather looking very stylish but not so sturdy that in weeks’ time has seen its back pocket lock obliterated. I carry it wherever I go, during office days and even on weekends just to have that feel that I am not alone walking along the streets and in malls and is in the company of someone, I mean something. Sometimes I forget leaving the papers and books I put in it in my room when I go out during weekends leaving me carrying a heavy bag.

It dawned upon me just now that I should be considering buying a sturdy briefcase in the future to have something hold my pleadings and case folders securely so that they won’t be folded or crumpled and make people in the courtroom suspect that I am a swagman or a vagrant pretending to be a lawyer.

Briefcases are so called because it is used frequently by lawyers for their briefs. I looked for one in the shops today and found good and stylish ones worth their prices which are more than reasonable. But going back to Fitzgerald’s briefcase, the sight of it beguiled me because it breathed nostalgia so much that you can tell a whole-length story out of the thing itself. More than a memorabilia, treasured things like this briefcase follow their owners’ respective lives and histories. For one thing, the briefcase could tell that with him traveled a prolific and well-loved writer who journeyed literary spaces in search of materials only to find out that the treasure and the big catch lie in his innermost thoughts and suppressed memories only he could surface and recollect.

Taking literature aside, being a lawyer and a fledgling at that has its own misadventures to tell. If my own bag could only speak and chatter on how it witnessed many blunders among which is how a judge lambasted its owner of not wearing a coat in the judge’s chambers, it will gain disciples which will worship a new and fresh attitude towards unlawyering. By unlawyering, I mean people not getting themselves into the clutches of the law and the law profession. My mom recently gifted me a whole set of suit for my future appearances and for me look forward away from that traumatic incident and I am very thankful for it. I will finally suit up. . .

Minus the misadventures which you could also slip in your briefcase in eternity, being an attorney is a bewildering act which crosses multitudes of bother (am I being redundant on this?) that will either stunt or make you grow. By stunt, I am referring to how a judge proscribed a member of the bar by telling him to sell cheese balls instead on the streets and by grow, I do not mean getting richer but finding morals in a lot of real life stories which will let you understand that a lawyer is such because there are a lot of injustices happening every second of people’s lives.

What Not to Ask a Fledgling Lawyer?

2009-06-29T03:23:00.001-07:00

1. So you drive a car now? Where’s your car? – You don’t win the lottery by passing the bar. In most cases you end up drowned in debt and utang na loob. The review created a hole in your pocket, the aftermath of passing the bar will create a debt bubble ready to burst and surpass statistics reached by the global economic recession. We don’t get a car instantly lest you forget not all of us know how to drive that wheels.

2. More admirers? More girls? Are you married yet? You don’t develop potion by being a lawyer. In most cases, as my companeros will later discover, being a lawyer will earn you much disgust less adoration. For girls, they prefer non-lawyers I think. For those who claim that they have magnet out of being a lawyer, it goes without saying that repulsive they may look but money matters. Hehe

3. Do you raise your voice in court? I want to see you in action mode and how you burst into anger. Maybe the one who asked you this is a legal drama fanatic. (but even in my favorite The Practice? Are there scenes like this?) There’s no such thing as courtroom drama in the Philippines for if that’s the case there should be a series now to capture that beautiful and captivating moment. Being the court is darn BORING. Scenes you see in the movies are exaggerated, overly done, over rated, over stated, oxymoron. . .check Encarta’s thesaurus to continue this harangue! You don’t shout in court although most of the time you are on the verge of shouting you just can’t. The courtroom is not the usual marketplace you think.

4. Oh, so I can kill a person now because I have a lawyer to defend me. By the way who’s sane lawyer would like to defend you? Go kill somebody and rut in jail!

The Walking Lawyer

2009-06-26T01:52:00.000-07:00

I have second thoughts about calling myself the fledgling lawyer. Oh, I know I am having slain the dragon just months ago but I just figured out today having walked for maybe miles under the heat of the sun that I may be just called the walking lawyer.

I have to tell you this but it dawned on me that I can’t divulge so much details about my transactions here in fairness to my clients not so much of the attorney-client privilege rule because I know no one could get me wrong here (or does anybody ever read this crap). With that in mind, I will tell you stories that happened today.

Oh well, I was caught up yet again in dealing with these bureaucrats (am I giving them dignity by throwing at them this infamous but classy name?) or I may just call them lowly staff. I am handling a land titles case and for this I have dug up available evidence to prove it in court. Anyway, to cut the long story short, I was passed on from one person from another like a ball used up in some kind of children’s play. In an office along Roxas Blvd., a staff in the records section told me, “can’t you read that sign on the front door? We are not accepting requests during Fridays?”, I answered: “Oh well, that’s the least thing I could notice when I am in the rush getting these important documents.” I flustered in burning glory. That darn guy. And so what can I do if the hard law (one of the realities you may want to puke about considering that this is only a memo which I later learned of to be patently misinterpreted) is so engraved in the tablet and has been stuck in the minds of birdbrains.

Anyway, because of my pure insistence I was able to facilitate my own request. Thankful to myself that I am a lawyer for this particular incident. It’s like this here in this very assuming government agency pretending to abide by their own rules to the point of defeating their own mandate and obligations to the public. So there, here it is, oh finally I had a glance of the original document. Here it is, here it is. . .only to be downed: “you have to secure this certification first there at Binondo.” Whoa! Don’t you realize that it really pays to deal with the government, in particular, to get a public document you just can’t get enough to hold in your bare hands, and to see in your own eyes?

I hope I win my case with this document which I will only be able to secure next week or I have to personally defend myself in court in the future for being a felon.

If there’s one thing I learned in my few weeks of practice. Fledgling lawyers like me needs to learn how to be patient because there will be many occasions that you will find yourself sitting in steel benches for hours. My advice: Get a good book to read!

I am the Fledgling Lawyer

2009-06-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

I am the fledgling lawyer. You, who’s reading this will meet me halfway through the tabernacles of boredom and promises like any human being I think. We will go about the same conundrums of this thing called life only that I am a lawyer, unfortunately, and you’re probably not. I belong to the forsaken legion of heroines and villains living in this side of the globe trotting the pathways which old ones once traversed and which has for its end the labyrinths of hell. I absolutely don’t want to join them and I will try by all means to redirect the path. How sure I am to get things in place, I don’t know myself. I would just like to anchor myself now or perish later.

I am the fledgling lawyer, now suffering the apathy that most people I deal now have against me. I try with all my might to convince them and to probably deconstruct their preconceptions about me but what I get now is a simple stare, gloating eyes, and rabid visions. I may be dwelling on this too much but sad to say according to the oracle this is the only way to get in. I must squeeze whatever charm I have to lure that secretary to give me that golden document to win a case. Whatever idea I have of the theoretical maxims I learned is being stripped off. And I must.

I am the fledgling lawyer, trying to get busy of what it is to be a Harrish character. I wake up in the morning. Stare myself at the mirror and look deep at my eyes and oh what are those dark circles! Mastering the four-in-hand knot until I choke. Try to look as suave as possible. Get in the way of people and kick the filth that gets in my way. It’s equity. Possibilities are a lot.

I am the fledgling lawyer, now signing in.