Legal Counselling and Social Disadvantages:

Responsibility  it is a maiden practice and it

Mid Term Coverage does not yield a lot of clients
because no client will go to
lawyer without reputation
The Art & Technique of Legal  You must build network of
Counselling referrals from families and
friends
Scope and Coverage of Legal  All expenses are shouldered by
Counselling – Canons of Professional solo practitioner
Responsibility, Canon 14 - 22  No extra support when pressed
for time
Duties, Responsibilities and Privileges  Both administrative and legal
of a Lawyer – Rule 138, Rules of concerns will burden the solo
Court, Sec. 20 practice.
 G.R. No. L23956, Javellana
vs. Lutero 2. ASSOCIATE
 G.R. No. 80718, De Roy v.
CA Advantages:
 A.C. No. 5678, Edquibal v.  Generally offers better
Ferrer opportunities
 A.C. No. 5162, Emiliano  The existing partnership
Court Townhouse usually has the financial
Homeowners Association v. capability to defray overhead
Dioneda expenses of maintaining a law
office.
 Great opportunity for
OPTIONS FOR LAWYERS: mentorship

1. SOLO PRIVATE PRACTICE Disadvantages:

 You are basically limited as an
Advantages employee, limited choice in
 You are your own boss thus call handling cases, clients and
your own shots workload
 Working hours are manageable  Most firms will not allow a free
 You can handle and choose how practice set-up
much workload you want to
accept 3. PARTNERSHIP
 You can choose the cases you
want to handle. Partners agree on articles of
 You design your own system partnership/ financial agreements to
 You can choose your own avoid future misunderstanding, how
clients to bring in income into the
partnerships, how to divide income
You are the own boss, but, at the end for clients they have individually
of the day, you hold yourself brought in, etc.
responsible to the success of your solo
practice. Partners agree on how to contribute
to the cost of operations: rents, staff,
utilities, office supplies, including Some employers allow their lawyers
information technology. to engage in private practice on the
side, but, this is a rare setup.
Structure:
Advantage:
1. Managing Partner. Salary, financial renumeration,
2. Human Resource Partner regular salary increases,
3. General counsel supplementary fringe benefits
4. Chief Financial Officer
( accountant)
5. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT
Advantages: Advantages
 Similar to the Solo private  Steady income- future GSIS
practice, you are your own boss pension
but along with other  Not as stressful as private
management practice
 The overhead costs of running a  Room for advancement in
firm is divided by all other bureaucracy
partners, hence it isn’t as
financially taxing as a solo Disadvantage:
practice  You get stuck with your job
 Presence of extra support in  Very limited range of practice
handling cases i.e. if DPWH only as to
expropriation and general
Disadvantages: contracts, etc.
 Possibility of partners’ rifts

4. CORPORATE COUNSEL Pointers in Dealing with a

Disadvantage: client
1. Establish Your Role with the Client
 Difficult to a lawyer to switch to
private practice because of
Your role is to analyze a given
financial considerations.
situation and offer a legal solution to
 People working for business
the problem presented, or a means of
corporations hesitate to go to
achieving the goal the client has
private practice because they
presented.
are giving up high
compensation.
As counsel, your role is to advise your
 Work is limited by the legal
client on the consequences of the
concerns or business of the
different courses of action. It is the
employer
client’s —and not the lawyer’s choice
 less chance of doing litigation to decide which course of action to
work follow.
 Isolation of many corporae
lawyer from professional You’re obligation is merely to counsel,
contacts outside the company but the decision is of course left to the
client.
 • Any instructions given during the
Difficult clients? contact
Difficult clients, however, are
sometimes totally unwilling to make In notes of meetings or conversations,
decisions about their legal issues and it’s especially important to record not
want the lawyer to do it for them. Do only the information the client gave to
not do it. Let some other influential you, but also the information and
person in their life help them with the advice you gave to the client.
decision. Your job is to help the client
understand the choices. 3. Be Calm and Clear

2. Be Thorough in Your It requires more patience than usual

Documentation to deal with difficult clients. You will
need to be calm and very clear with
Document everything you possibly them about everything. The more
can, including phone calls, voice- information you give in writing—
mail messages and e-mail and as early in the
messages. Confirm the client’s representation as possible—the less
instructions to you in writing, and likely there will be
confirm your instructions to the client misunderstandings. Also, explain what
in writing. Include the possible they should expect regarding their
consequences of various courses interactions with you and your staff.
of action the client may be Be sure they understand whom to
contemplating. Save messages and deal with on which issues—for
instructions in your usual way as part example, whom to call to get
of the permanent record of the file. certain types of information, and
when they need to speak directly to
Why? This is so to guide you during their lawyer and when they can deal
the process of executing the course of with staff instead.
action and meet the expectations set
up during the meeting or conference. 4. Include Your Staff in the Plan
This also is handy specially with more
difficult clients, as documentation Usually, the staff will easily be able to
means recording sufficient details identify the difficult client. But they
to assist you in a future also need to know the risks of acting
disagreement. for the difficult client, so they can
behave in ways that minimize those
This means you should record at least risks, especially in terms of
the following for all exchanges documenting contacts, instructions or
relating to the matter: information.
• The client’s name
• The file name However, difficult clients are often
• Who the contact was with much more difficult with the staff than
• The date of the contact they are with the lawyers. Deal
• The nature of the contact (phone directly and promptly with the client
call, meeting, voice mail, e-mail or the concerning any inappropriate
like) treatment, to ensure that the client
• How long the contact took understands what the staff ’s role is in
• The details of who said what, the representation and, more
including what the lawyer said importantly, to ensure that any
abusive behavior toward your people possible moment in the
or employee isn’t tolerated. representation.

5. Manage Expectations from the When to Decline

Outset
Employment
Clients’ unrealistic expectations
Clients have an almost absolute right
take many forms, it could be about
to hire and fire attorneys for any
service, time, costs, results.
reason. The attorney, on the other
hand, cannot "fire" a client at whim;
If the client has service expectations
he must have a valid reason.
that are impossible to meet—i.e.
returning phone calls within 15
As a general rule, attorneys are
minutes, calling during weekends or
required to withdraw from a case in
at late hours, performing significant
the following situations
work for free—be clear from the
outset that you cannot provide that
level or kind of service. If the client  If, by representing the client,
has expectations that are unrealistic the lawyer will be violating the
or very expensive, such as having the law or the rules of professional
matter concluded on a rushed conduct (such as if the lawyer is
timeline or all work done by the most suspended from practicing law
senior lawyer on the team, be clear by the local attorney
about whether you can meet that disciplinary committee).
expectation, or what alternative will  If the lawyer is physically or
be provided, as well as the costs that mentally incapable of
will be involved. representing the client
 If the client terminates his
Also remember that you need to relationship with the attorney.
establish mutual expectations  Otherwise, an attorney may
concerning billing and payment withdraw from a case only for
procedures for your services. It’s valid reasons, and only if it is
especially important to bill shown that the client's interests
clients with high service won't be adversely effected.
expectations frequently and
regularly, and to provide as much
detail as possible, so they can Valid reasons include:
understand the cost of those
expectations.  Conflicts of interest:
Attorneys and their firms
The most important thing to establish are not permitted to
during discussions with clients is what represent people or
results they want to achieve. companies that are
Clients who are unlikely to be adversaries. In some
successful in achieving their circumstances, the lawyer
goals need to be told that may ask for permission
explicitly from the start of the (called a conflict waiver)
representation, or at the earliest from each party
acknowledging the conflict
 and allowing the attorney to obligations. As part of those
represent both of each. If, obligations, your lawyer
after the attorney has cannot help you commit
agreed to represent you, he unethical, fraudulent or
learns that he or his firm criminal activities. If your
also represents another attorney tells you that you're
person or company that is trying todo something illegal
your adversary, and if the and you don't take his
attorney can't get a advice, the attorney can stop
conflict waiver from both representing you
you and your adversary,
then the lawyer must See the cases of:
stop representing you
A.C. No. 4078 July 14, 2003
See the case of: WILLIAM ONG GENATO,
complainant, vs. ATTY. ESSEX L.
G.R. No. L-961, Hilado v. David SILAPAN, respondent.
BLANDINA GAMBOA HILADO,
petitioner, A.C. No. 5108, Mercado v. Vitriolo
vs. JOSE GUTIERREZ DAVID, ROSA F. MERCADO, Complainant, v.
VICENTE J. FRANCISCO, JACOB ATTY. JULITO D. VITRIOLO,
ASSAD and SELIM JACOB ASSAD, Respondent.
respondents.
A.C. No. 4863 - September 7,
 Personality conflicts: It's 2001. URBAN BANK, INC. v. ATTY.
human nature that MAGDALENO M. PEA,
sometimes people just can't
get along with one another. Other Grounds:
Your attorney is
supposed to be your a. when a client insists upon an
best advocate, but if unjust or immoral conduct of
there's a conflict of his case;
personalities, it may be b. when the client insists that the
impossible for your lawyer pursue conduct violative
attorney to give you the of the Code of Professional
best representation Responsibility;
possible. c. when the client has two or
more retained lawyers and the
See the case of lawyers could not get along to
the detriment of the case;
A.C. No. 6711 July 3, 2007 d. when the mental or physical
MA. LUISA HADJULA, complainant, condition of the lawyer makes
vs. ATTY. ROCELES F. MADIANDA, him incapable of handling the
respondent. case effectively;
e. when the client deliberately
 A client's unethical, fails to pay the attorney's fees
fraudulent, or criminal agreed upon;
activity: Your lawyer is f. when the lawyer is elected or
bound by certain appointed to public office;
professional and ethical
But note: until you are more established. You
Assuming, nevertheless, that a lawyer can manage perfectly well with a
is justified in terminating his services, home office and consider using a
he, however, cannot just do so and business concierge service rather
leave his client in the cold than employing reception and
unprotected. The lawyer has no right secretarial staff..
to presume that his petition for
withdrawal will be granted by the 4. Avoid print advertising
court. Until his withdrawal shall have Print advertising like billboards,
been approved, the lawyer remains newspapers and yellow pages is
counsel of record who is expected by expensive and not tremendously
his client as well as by the court to do effective unless you have a massive
what the interests of his client budget to throw at it. Stick to digital
require. He must still appear on the marketing, word of mouth and
date of hearing for the attorney-client personal recommendation.
relation does not terminate formally
until there is a withdrawal of record. 5. Be technology savvy
Instead of spending out on a
Getting Started As A Young photocopier, scanner, printer and
Lawyer fax machine; buy one that does
everything.
Pointers on opening a Law Office
Also, do note that as with legal files,
1. Don’t over-pontificate this could mean voluminous
Obviously you need to put the pleadings. The faster the printer, the
preparatory work in prior to better, especially when trying to keep
launching your new business venture, up with a deadline. Also, make sure
but don’t spend too long printers are cost-efficient.
contemplating your navel before
taking the plunge. Some lawyers 6. eBooks versus paper manuals
become overly methodical in their Legal books are very expensive
planning and prepping stages and and take up significant space. Also,
never actually get around to starting a over time, several revisions in the law
practice at all. will render their use less effective.

2. Get a good website On the other hand, ebooks are

Paper advertisements of law firms considerably cheaper with the added
are no longer as relevant as it was advantage of being able to carry your
years ago. These days every business, entire legal library with you at all
no matter how new or small, needs a times. They are also easily searchable
good website, including law firms. It’s and take up less space.
where people can find out all about
you and the services you can offer. 7. Use the Cloud
Practice management software and
3. Keep overhead costs down data storage is best achieved through
Never be tempted to try to using the Cloud. This is especially
compete with the big law firms; applicable in keeping up with
you can’t. They have access to incoming pleadings, papers and other
huge budgets that a newly started case files.
solo practice does not. Keep it simple
 8. Create a good filing system  A.C. 6252, Santiago v. Rafanan
An organized office makes the job a  A.C. No. 5098, Anion v.
lot easier in terms of filing pleadings Sabitsana
and meeting deadlines. Make sure to  A.C. No. 5858, Santos v. Beltran
classify files by: Client files,  A.C. No. 6836, Gonzalez v.
Accounting files, Admin files. Cabucana
 A.C. No. 1625, Bautista v.
9. Sync and Update Calendar Gonzalez
system
 In Re: Suspension from the
As a lawyer, much depends on your
schedule. Deadlines for pleadings, Practice of Law in the
court hearings, meetings, mediations, Territory. Of Guam of Atty.
these all revolve around your Leon G. Maquerra
calendar. Make sure to synchronize  A.C. No. 9834 Samuel B.
your calendars with the office Arnadao vs. Atty. Homobono
calendar to keep up with all the A. Adaza
demands on your time.  A.C. No. 10245: Elibena A.
Cabiles vs. Atty. Leandro S.
Assignment:
Cedo
In a word document, digest the
following cases. Each case digest
should contain at least the facts,
issues and relevant ruling. Make sure
that you are able to identify the
relevant ruling in relation to the
subject, as such, limit the ruling to 1 –
2 paragraphs.

Note, the files will be checked to

make sure that academic integrity is
upheld and plagiarism is avoided. Any
work that will violate the rules on
plagiarism will automatically merit a
failing mark for this exercises.

Please submit the digest on March 29,

2020 Sunday : 12 mn at the following
email: [email protected]

Digest the following cases:

 Villaflores v. Limos, 538 SCRA
140
 G.R. No. L-12817, Enriquez v.
Gimenez
 A.M. No. 258, Bautista v. Barrios
 G.R. Nos. 151800-12, PCGG vs.
Sandiganbayan
 Bar Matter No. 553, Ulep vs.
Legal Clinic Inc