Legal Ethics is a branch of moral science which treats of the duties which an attorney owes

1. to the court,
2. to his client,
3. to his colleagues in the profession and to the public as embodied in the Constitution,
4. Rules of Court,
5. the Code of Professional Responsibility,
6. Canons of Professional Ethics,
7. jurisprudence,
8. moral,
9. law and special laws (Justice George Malcolm).
Sources of ethical standards for the Judiciary

1. Code of Professional Responsibility

2. Constitution
3. Rules of Court
4. New Code of Judicial Conduct for the Philippine Judiciary
5. Other personnel – Code of Conduct for Court Personnel
6. Decisions/Resolutions of the Supreme Court
7. Supreme Court Circulars
8. Order/Resolution of other courts
9. IBP Issuances
10. Treatises and Publications

The practice of law is any activity, in or out of court, which requires the
1. application of law,
2. legal procedure,
3. knowledge,
4. training and experience.

Generally, to practice law is to give notice or render any kind of service, which device or service requires the use
in any degree of legal knowledge or skill [Cayetano v. Monsod, G.R. No. 100113 (1991)].

NOTE: A lawyer who is a detention prisoner is not allowed to practice his profession as a necessary consequence of
his status as a detention prisoner. All prisoners whether under preventive detention or serving final sentence cannot
practice their profession nor engage in any business or occupation, or hold office, elective or appointive, while in
detention. This is a necessary consequence of arrest and detention (People v. Maceda, G.R. Nos. 89591-96, January
24, 2000).

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA DETERMINATIVE OF ENGAGING IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW (Taken from Justice
Padilla’s dissent in Cayetano vs. Monsod).

Code: H-A-C-A
 1. Habituality. Practice of law implies customarily or habitually holding himself out to the public as a lawyer.
Practice of law is more than an isolated appearance for it consists in frequent or customary action.

2. Application of law, legal principle, practice, or procedure which calls for legal knowledge, training and
experience.

3. Compensation. Practice of law implies that one must have presented himself to be in the active practice and
that his professional services are available to the public for compensation, as a source of his livelihood or in
consideration of his said services.

4. Attorney-client relationship. Engaging in the practice of law presupposes the existence of lawyer-client
relationship. Hence, where a lawyer undertakes an activity which requires knowledge of law but involves no
attorney-client relationship, such as teaching law or writing law books or articles, he cannot be said to be
engaged in the practice of his profession as a lawyer.

PRIVILEGE
The practice of law is not a natural, property or constitutional right but a mere privilege. It is not a right granted to
anyone who demands it but a privilege to be extended or withheld in the exercise of sound judicial discretion. It is a
privilege accorded only to those who measure up to certain rigid standards of mental and moral fitness.

PROFESSION, NOT BUSINESS

The legal profession is not a business. It is not a money-making trade similar to that of a businessman employing a
strategy for the purpose of monetary gain. It is a sacred profession imbued with public interest whose primary objective
is public service, as it is an essential part in the administration of justice and a profession in pursuit of which pecuniary
reward is considered merely incidental.