Lawyers in Society

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Before I proceed, permit me to thank you for this privilege to be with you on this special day in your lives. You do me a great honor to be your commencement speaker in these graduation exercises of the San Sebastian College of Law.

As one who has chosen the law for his calling, I can well appreciate your sense of pride, along with your parents and professors, for this moment. For truly, the study of the law is very demanding, perhaps more demanding today than ever. And to finish it, as you have done, is in itself a great achievement and a basis for justifiable pride.

I also note your growing sense of anticipation and anxiety at the prospect of taking the bar examinations. Indeed, those who study the laws cannot enter the legal profession without going through the crucible or the gauntlet of passing the bar exams. And this makes the legal profession unique. Many regard it, in fact, as something not suited to the faint-hearted and to the lazy minds.

Yet, in spite of its rigors, no profession is more sadly misunderstood than our profession. Art Buchwald, the humorist, has called it "the second oldest profession in the world." And, of course, you know what is the oldest.

This harsh comparison arises from the notion that like the women of the street, who let their bodies for hire to get by in life, we lawyers let our brains for hire for the same purpose.

Derisive remarks and jokes about lawyers are legions in literature. For instance, Lord Henry Brougham, a Scottish jurist, said, "A lawyer is a learned gentleman, who rescues your estate from your enemies and keeps it himself."

And Jeremy Bentham, the English jurist and philosopher added, "It is impossible for a lawyer to wish men out of litigation, as for a physician to wish them in health."

A French wit, La Bruy`ere, on the other hand, advised: "Avoid law suits beyond all things; they influence your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property."

But the strongest indictment of lawyers comes from Keats, the English poet, and Montesquieu, the French political philosopher. Keats bluntly said, "I think we may class the lawyer in the natural history of monsters."

On the other hand, Montesquieu was more artful. He was cautious enough to say: "Sometimes a man who deserves to be looked down upon because he is a fool is despised only because he is a lawyer."

My response to all this is simple. Critics may say all they want to say against lawyers. But whenever they get into any dispute or any trouble or any difficulty, who is the first person they think of to help them? Who indeed, if not a lawyer! And we know why.

Lawyers, no less than politicians and magistrates, have a responsibility to see that members of society get justice and preserve their freedom. To me, therefore, lawyers are in essence the pillars of justice and freedom in a democratic society. The rule of law, which is so essential for justice and freedom to prevail, cannot work without the services of dedicated and competent lawyers.

This is well expressed in a classic statement of Justice Felix Frankfurter of the United States Supreme Court, who said, "Limited as the law is, it is all that we have standing between us and the tyranny of mere will and the cruelty of unbridled feeling."

And even prior to Justice Frankfurter, Shakespeare in his play, Henry the VI, to emphasize his thought that one could not set up an undemocratic government for as long as there were lawyers, candidly remarked, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

We can all appreciate what the law and the legal profession mean to society when we consider that both are relatively recent additions to human civilization.

From records going back to ancient time -- before 1500 B.C. -- it is clear that there was no such thing as a lawyer in those days. Parties to disputes had to plead their own cases. There was no courtroom, as we know it today. The courtroom was usually the yard of a temple. It was only during the time of the Romans that a system of law and the profession of a lawyer emerged.

In the case of the rule of law, the beginning was even more recent. It came into being when the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the concept of Habeas Corpus, and the Common Law stamped their imprint on human civilization in the course of the later centuries.

Even with the adoption of the rule of law in our human society, there are still some societies where it does not truly reign. Justice and freedom are still elusive dreams for many human beings in our planet. And where the rule of law is absent, it is plainly because there are no lawyers serving as legislators, magistrates, or advocates who can bring the rule of law about.

So, we have reason for pride in choosing the law as our profession. What the public and lawyers themselves must never forget, however, is that the existence of law alone cannot guarantee justice and freedom. We need well-trained and courageous lawyers to serve the cause of human justice and freedom.

We in society, therefore, must all work for justice and freedom together. The public must get the government to fashion wise laws that are fair to all and to establish independent and competent courts. And the lawyers must use all their learning and skill, within the limits of their professional ethics, to ensure that justice and freedom are preserved and maintained for those who use their services.

That such a condition is not easily attained, we must all recognize. Law must be fashioned and administered with an awareness of the concerns of the world outside the court. Law cannot stand separate from the society of which it is a part.

In an autocratic or totalitarian society, the legal profession, no less than the judiciary, is reduced to playing to the arbitrary will of government and ruler. The pursuit of justice and freedom begins with the awful realization that there are some that are more favored in law and or above the law.

But in a democratic society, where all, at least in theory, are deemed equal before the law, there is more space for us to live up to what is noble in our calling. Yet even in such an environment, we must live with the reality that the processes in achieving justice and freedom can still miss the mark sometimes.

The achievement of justice and freedom is not a simple matter of either or. Rather, it should be a matter of more, not less. The service that we lawyers perform is to ensure that on balance there is more, not less, justice and freedom attained in our all too human community.

I stress this point because of late we have seen many great issues of law played in our public life -- issues of rights under our Constitution, issues of morality in our public affairs, and issues concerning the economic life of the nation. And many of these issues have not been resolved to the complete satisfaction of many among us.

We would be less than honest if we do not recognize that our legal system is under test today -- not only in the eyes of the people, but also in the eyes of the world.

And we would be mistaken if we imagine that our courts are the only ones under scrutiny as it were. The practice of the law is in every way involved. It is entwined and enmeshed in the present state of our legal system -- no less than the courts and the prosecution service and, indeed, no less than the whole society itself.

I say this not to point an accusatory finger at any element of our legal system, but to underline and emphasize the climate of anxiety that shadows public perceptions of the legal system today.

True or not, many people today believe that our legal processes and institutions, instead of effectively serving justice and freedom, have become more of obstacles to their pursuit.

True or not, many people believe that decisions are bought, rather than won in our courts.

True or not, many people believe that our prosecution service does not serve the public interest, but rather the interests of the powerful and the wealthy.

And true or not, many people believe that the legal profession has ceased to be the noble calling that it is envisioned to be.

In the words of one keen observer, the legal profession has become a profession that "charges too much, preys on the misfortune of others, files technical defenses that prevent a just result, serve mainly the rich, and simply doesn't produce anything useful."

Many of these negative views stem from a lack of faith that we have the best and honest legal minds in the bench, in the prosecution service, and in the legal profession itself. In the bench and in the prosecution service, politics and money, it is felt, are playing an inimical role in the manning and workings of these important and indispensable institutions.

Up to a point, we must concede this. And we must assign urgency to the need to uphold the integrity of our judiciary and justice department, to improve the selection of men and women who would serve in them, and to sharpen our mechanisms for holding them accountable.

Yet having said that, let me also say that the negative public view about our legal system probably stems also from an acute ignorance of how it works.

Legal process is not one straight line leading inexorably to the truth. It involves many aspects, not least the ability of lawyers to present their cases in the best light and in the most forceful way possible.

So when our courts render judgement on cases before them, it has to be on the basis of how the litigants and their lawyers argue their sides. Judges do not make judgements on the basis of their values and views of what is best for society. Judges are required to find reasons for their judgements -- reasons rooted in the law, be it the Constitution or a statute or a principle of equity. The reasons must dictate the result, and not the other way around.

Under these circumstances, the work of the legal counsel is indispensable and vital. For the courts are enjoined "to approach each case with an open mind as to how the law applies to the particular facts and circumstances placed before them." The very design of our laws denies the judge the freedom and opportunity that those in the executive and the legislative enjoy.

As a practicing lawyer, I know this only too well. Whenever I appear in court, I know that my case will be won or lost depending on the facts and arguments I assemble and marshal to advance it --not because the cause or the parties I represent are right. Their being right must be validated and vindicated by the way I represent them.

So, I believe the public must also remember this when it scrutinizes court decisions. Unless it can be shown that a case was truly decided outside the test of strict legal argument and evidence, we ought to guard against impugning the integrity of our courts in the resolution of a case -- lest we bring our entire legal system down to the brink.

In brief, what I am trying to say is that we in the legal profession have a duty to educate the public on the workings of our legal system -- so that it can better understand not only how it works, but also how it can be made better.

In the situation we are in now, our proper course would lie between the extremes of denouncing wholesale our legal system, which would be suicidal, and of being complacent in the face of weaknesses, which would be irresponsible. We must work to strengthen the entire system -- both the parts and the whole.

There are on-going efforts to improve the process of judicial selection so that indeed the best legal minds will sit in the Bench. There are also efforts to strengthen the prosecution service. There is the on-going mandatory continuing legal education for members of the Bar to refresh and broaden their legal knowledge.

I do not have the luxury of time to comment on these complex questions one by one. I will only say this. These are indications of our awareness of the urgent need to improve our legal system and of our common desire that justice, right, and freedom will all prevail in our Republic.

So, let me just briefly focus on one vital part of our effort to strengthen the legal system. And this is the teaching and the practice of law.

Ultimately, the rule of law in our country rests on the dedicated and effective teaching and practice of the law. It begins in law school. And it continues outside in the harsh and real world of our profession.

When we talk of standards in the legal profession, we must talk of what we teach our young men and women when they embrace the law as their calling. We must inculcate in them the idea that the legal profession is not just a means to earn a living. It is equally, if not more, an important and indispensable service for justice, right, and freedom and to society.

When we speak of justice, right, and freedom as the goals of our legal system, we must speak of training our lawyers on how these are to be attained in a society that is complex, diverse, and ruled by intersecting and clashing interests.

And when we talk of having the best legal minds manning the ramparts of our legal system, we must speak of how we are going to produce such minds, given the resources that we have.

To the lasting credit of our people, we have always believed in a high tradition of excellence for our legal profession.

We may have faltered sometimes in maintaining it, but never have our people wavered in their faith that to make our way to the future, we need the services of good and able men and women trained in the law.

We may have been visited by less than democratic governments, yet even in such trying times, there have been many among us who kept their faith in the rule of law.

Throughout our history, there have been exemplary models of the legal profession in our country. Together, they represent a fine community that you, our young and idealistic future lawyers, can emulate and follow as your models.

And so, to the members of this graduating class, I say to you, look to this tradition and its examples as your guide in your own practice of this noble profession. Take the best from what you have learned in school and apply it to your calling. I assure you that if you do that, there can be no failure -- only success awaits you.

There is one more that I wish to impart to you. At this time when we are talking of our country as entering the hearth-fire of progress, of competing in the global economy, we do well to remember the work of our lawyers in building our society.

It was men and women of the law who constructed our legal system and laid the basis for our democratic faith -- taking what they could from other systems and adapting them to our own place and time.

It was men and women of the law who tested the substance and meaning of our laws by bringing thousands of cases before our courts, and winning decisions in the name of justice, right, and freedom.

It was men and women of the law who enabled us to experience in our country advances in politics, social justice, and jurisprudence in the world.

And finally it is men and women of the law who are now leading the way in giving legal character to the reforms we desire in order for us to modernize our society and our economy.

And so, graduating class of 2003, let me say this to you in closing. I congratulate you all for choosing the law as your profession.

We may hear it said sometimes that science and technology is the "in" thing in our milieu. Or that economics is what drives the success of individuals and of nations today.

Be that as it may, I say this: However the times may change, human society and human beings will always have need of the law and the services of lawyers.

"For the law," as Lady Margaret Thatcher has said, "is the condition not only of the survival of nations, but of the maintenance of liberty and justice within nations. Nationally and internationally the law is not only a negative and restraining force, it is a creative and liberating force. It enables the individual, within the framework of order, to exercise his talents freely, in the sure knowledge that the just rewards of those talents will be secure."

Today, more than ever, we need a strong infrastructure of law in our society to serve our highest aspirations for justice, right, freedom, growth, and development. Part of that infrastructure is wise laws and functioning legal institutions that enable us to order our affairs and our relations with one another.

But just as important to that infrastructure are lawyers who will enable the law to rule and reign supreme in our country.

Having finished your legal studies and with your prospective admission to the Bar, that infrastructure will now include each and every one of you who are graduating here today.

Finally, in closing my rendition, let me summon some eloquent and memorable words from one of Abraham Lincoln's famous speeches and leave them with you. For to me, these words best distill the call and the challenge addressed to all of us in the legal profession.

"Let reverence for the law," according to Abraham Lincoln, "be breathed by every . . . mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation, and let the old and young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions sacrifice unceasingly upon its altar."

Congratulations! God bless you! I wish you all every success in life. Thank you.

Speech of Hon.. Juan Ponce Enrile before the Commencement Exercises of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, Institute of Law, at the San Sebastian Basilica, Claro M. Recto, Manila, on 12 April 2003.