VOL.

93, SEPTEMBER 10, 1979 103

The Decorum of a Legal Practitioner

ANNOTATION

THE DECORUM OF A LEGAL PRACTITIONER

By

Atty. FLORIMOND C. ROUS

§ 1. Introduction, p. 103.
§ 2. Duties of Lawyers, p. 107.
§ 3. Suspension and Disbarment, p. 112.
§ 4. Conclusions, p. 114.

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§ 1. Introduction

A lawyer has a more dynamic and positive role in the

community than merely complying with the minimal
technicalities of the statute. As a man of law, he is
necessarily a leader of the community, looked up to as a
model citizen. His conduct must, perforce, be par excellence
especially so when he volunteers his professional services.
(Blanza and Pasion vs. Arcangel, Administrative Case No.
492, 21 SCRA 2). The standard of professional and personal
integrity which should be applied to persons admitted to
practice law is not satisfied by such conduct as merely
enables them to escape the penalties of criminal law. Good
moral character includes at least common honesty. (Royong
vs. Oblena, Administrative Case No. 376, 7 SCRA 859).
Thus, attorneys must continue to adhere to the standards
of mental and moral fitness set up for the practice of law.
(In re Guiterrez, Administrative Case o. L-363, 5 SCRA
661; Go vs. Candoy, Administrative Case No. 736, 21 SCRA
439). Membership in the Bar entails various obligations.
The lawyer’s, intimate link with the administration of
justice
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demands obligations from him which are not usually

expected of ordinary laymen. He has strong influence in the
community; people consider him honorable and wise
worthy of imitation; as such, he should not only preach the
law but likewise set the example by observing and
upholding the same.
He has a duty to his brothers and sisters to utilize
peaceful and legal means in seeking justice and refrain
from doing intentional wrong to their opponents. He should
strive to maintain public confidence in the administration
of justice and in the integrity of the judiciary. He should
discourage in dividuals, particularly public officials, from
disregarding the supremacy of the law and respect for the
rights of citizens. He should be bold in attacking and
exposing any breach of professional ethics. He should
always be active in the necessity of purging the Bar and
the Bench of unscrupulous elements. He must combat all
kinds of corruption that may creep into the judiciary.
Lawyers should likewise ward off any attempt to subvert
judicial independent because the stability of democracy can
only be maintained with a strong and independent
judiciary. Because of their training, lawyers are better
equipped to detect and thwart any effort to encroach upon
or weaken the judiciary.
Many key positions in the government are occupied by
lawyers. Politics has attracted more lawyers than members
of any other profession; perhaps this is because of their
peculiar knowledge of the people’s political and civil rights
and the government legal structure.
The lawyer-politician should always be above the
common concept of politics. Legal ethics is no different from
any other form of morality; neither should political ethics
be any different. Both necessitate the use of the principles
of right and wrong to the behavior of persons in their
various callings. A lawyer should bear in mind that for his
misdemeanor as a public official, he may either be
suspended or disbarred.
A lawyer should never lend his aid to the enactment of
un just and unwise laws. On the contrary he should exert
his best efforts in securing the passage of laws which would
promote the public interest. Lawyers wield great influence
upon the
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country’s legislation for they have at their command two

potent weapons—publication of learned research and
arguments in court. They should use them wisely for the
public good. (Carter, Ethics of the Legal Profession, p. 34).
A lawyer openly, and in his true character may render
professional services before legislative or other bodies,
regarding proposed legislation and in advocacy of claims
before departments of government upon the same
principles of ethics which justify his appearance before the
Courts; but it is unprofessional for a lawyer so engaged, to
conceal his attorneyship, or to employ secret personal
solicitations, or to use other means than those addressed to
reason and understanding, to influence action. (Canons of
Professional Ethics, 26).
A lawyer may with propriety write articles for
publications in which he gives information upon the law;
but he should not accept employment from such publication
to advise inquiries in respect to their individual rights.
(Canons of Professional Ethics, 40).
Just like other public officers, the lawyer assumes office
with the attendant duties and privileges; one such duty is
the rendering of free services to poor litigants. A superior
court may assign an attorney to render professional aid
free of charge to any party in a case, if upon investigation it
appears that the party is destitute and unable to employ an
attorney, and that the services of counsel are necessary to
secure the ends of justice and to protect the rights of the
party. It shall be the duty of the attorney so assigned to
render the required service, unless he is excused therefrom
by the court for sufficient cause shown. (Rule 138, Section
31, Rules of Court).
For persons accused of crimes, lawyers may at times be
assigned as counsels de oficio. If the defendant appears
without attorney, he must be informed by the court that it
is his right to have attorney before being arraigned, and
must be asked if he desires the aid of attorney. If he desires
and is unable to employ attorney, the court must assign
attorney de oficio to defend him. A reasonable time must be
allowed for procuring attorney. (Rule 116, Section 3, Rules
of Court). A lawyer as counsel de oficio is duty bound to
exert his best efforts in behalf of an indigent client. (People
vs. Estebia, L-
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26868, 27 SCRA 106). Attorneys de oficio may be assigned

not only in trials before the inferior courts but also in
appeals. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the trial court
upon the presentation of a notice of appeal in a criminal
case, to ascertain from the appellant, if he be confined in
prison, whether he desires the Court of Appeals or the
Supreme Court to appoint an attorney to defend him de
oficio and to transmit with the record, upon a form to be
prepared by the clerk of the appellate court, a certificate of
compliance with this duty and of the response of the
appellant to his inquiry. (Rule 122, Section 13, Rules of
Court). A lawyer assigned as counsel for an indigent
prisoner ought not to ask to be excused for any trivial
reason and should always exert his best efforts in his
behalf. (Canons of Professional Ethics, 4).
Finally, a lawyer should not give advice nor render
service if it would involve his loyalty to the laws. No client,
corporate or individual, however, powerful, nor any cause,
civil or political, however important, is entitled to receive
nor should any lawyer render any service or advice
involving disloyalty to the laws whose ministers we are, or
disrespect of the judicial office, which we are bound to
uphold, or corruption of any person or persons exercising a
public office or private trust, or deception or betrayal of the
public. When rendering any such improper service or
advice, the lawyer invites and merits stern and just
condemnation. Correspondingly, he advances the honor of
his profession and the best interests of his client when he
renders service or gives advice tending to impress upon the
client and his undertaking exact compliance with the
strictest principles of moral law. He must also observe and
advise his client to observe the statute law, though until a
statute shall have been construed and interpreted by
competent adjudication he is free and is entitled to advice
as to its validity and as to what he conscientiously believes
to he its just meaning and extent. But above all, a lawyer
will find his highest honor in a deserved reputation for
fidelity to private trust and to public duty, as an honest
man and as a patriotic and loyal citizen. (Canons of
Professional Ethics, 32).

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§ 2. Duties of Lawyers

It is the duty of the lawyer to maintain towards the Courts

a respectful attitude, not for the sake of the temporary
incumbent of the judicial office, but for the maintenance of
its supreme importance. Judges, not being wholly free to
defend themselves, are peculiarly entitled to receive the
support of the Bar against unjust criticism and clamor.
Whenever there is proper ground for serious complaint of a
judicial officer, it is the right and duty of the lawyer to
submit his grievances to the proper authorities. In such
cases, but not otherwise, such charges should be
encouraged and the person making them should be
protected. (Canons of Professional Ethics, 1). An attorney’s
duty of prime importance is to observe and maintain the
respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers.
(People vs. Estebia, 27 SCRA 106, and others). It is the
duty of counsel to uphold the dignity of the court by not
using offensive languages (In Re Hon. Climaco, 55 SCRA
107); and lawyers have a duty to maintain respect for the
courts and judicial officers. (Montecillo vs. Gica, 60 SCRA
234).
It is the duty of the Bar to endeavor to prevent political
considerations from outweighing judicial fitness in the
selection of judges. It should protest earnestly and actively
against the appointment or election of those who are
unsuitable for the Bench; and it should strive to have
elevated thereto only those willing to forego other
employments whether of a business, political or other
character, which may embarrass their free and fair
consideration of questions before them for decision. The
aspiration of lawyers for judicial positions should be
governed by an impartial estimate of their ability to add
honor to the office and not by a desire for the distinction
the position may bring to themselves. (Canons of
Professional Ethics, 2).
It is the right of the lawyer to undertake the defense of a
person accused of crime, regardless of his personal opinion
as to the guilt of the accused; otherwise, innocent persons,
victims only of suspicious circumstances, might be denied
proper defense. Having undertaken such defense, the
lawyer is bound, by all fair and honorable means, to
present every defense that
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the law of the land permits, to the end that no person may
be deprived of life or liberty, but by due process of law.
The primary duty of a lawyer engaged in public
prosecution is not to convict, but to see that justice is done.
The suppression of facts or the secreting of witnesses
capable of establishing the innocence of the accused is
highly reprehensible. (Canons of Professional Ethics, 5).
It is the duty of a lawyer at the time of retainer to
disclose to the client all the circumstances of his relations
to the parties, and any interest in or connections with the
controversy, which might influence the client in the
selection of counsel.
It is unprofessional to represent conflicting interests,
except by express consent of all concerned given after a full
disclosure of facts. Within the meaning of this canon, a
lawyer represents conflicting interests when, in behalf of
one client, it is his duty to contend for that which duty to
another client requires him to oppose.
The obligation to represent the client with undivided
fidelity and to divulge his secrets or confidence forbids also
the subsequent acceptance of retainers or employment from
others in matters adversely affecting any interest of the
client with respect to which confidence has been reposed.
(Canons of Professional Ethics, 6).
A lawyer should endeavor to obtain full knowledge of his
client’s cause before advising thereon, and he is bound to
give a candid opinion of the merits and probable result of
pending or contemplated litigation. The miscarriages to
which justice is subject, by reason of surprises and
disappointments in evidence and witnesses, and through
mistakes of juries and errors of Courts, even though only
occasional, admonish lawyers to beware of bold and
confident assurances to clients, especially where the
employment may depend upon such assurance. Whenever
the controversy will admit of fair judgment, the client
should be advised to avoid or to end the litigation. (Canons
of Professional Ethics, 8).
Nothing operates more certainly to create or to foster
popular prejudice against lawyers as a class, and to deprive
the profession of that full measure of public esteem and
confidence

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which belongs to the proper discharge of its duties than

does the false claim, often set up by the unscrupulous in
defense of questionable transactions, that it is the duty of
the lawyers to do whatever may enable him to succeed in
winning his client’s cause.
It is improper for a lawyer to assert in argument his
personal belief in his client’s innocence or in the justice of
his cause.
The lawyer owes “entire devotion to the interest of the
client, warm zeal in the maintenance and defense of his
rights and the exertion of his utmost learning and ability,”
to the end that nothing be taken or be withheld from him,
save by the rules of law, legally applied. No fear of judicial
disfavor or public unpopularity should restrain him from
the full discharge of his duty. In the judicial forum the
client is entitled to the benefit of any and every remedy and
defense that is authorized by the law of the land, and he
may expect his lawyer to assert every such remedy or
defense. But it is steadfastly to be borne in mind that the
great trust of the lawyer is to be performed within and not
without the bounds of the law. The office of attorney does
not permit, much less does it demand of him for any client,
violation of law or any manner of fraud or chicanery. He
must obey his own conscience and not that of his client.
(Canons of Professional Ethics, 15).
A lawyer should use his best efforts to restrain and to
prevent his clients from doing those things which the
lawyer himself ought not to do, particularly with reference
to their conduct towards Courts, judicial officers, jurors,
witnesses and suitors. If a client persist in such wrong-
doing the lawyer should terminate their relation. (Canons
of Professional Ethics, 16).
A lawyer should always treat adverse witnesses and
suitors with fairness and due consideration, and he should
never minister to the malevolence or prejudices of a client
in the trial or conduct of a cause. The client can not be
made the keeper of the lawyer’s conscience in professional
matters. He has no right to demand that his counsel shall
abuse the opposite party or indulge in offensive
personalities. Improper speech is not excusable on the
ground that it is what the client would say if

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 The Decorum of a Legal Practitioner

speaking in his own behalf. (Canons of Professional Ethics,

18). It is the lawyer’s duty as a member of the Bar “to
abstain from all offensive personality and to advance no
fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a party or
witness, unless required by the justice of the cause with
which he is charged.” (Surigao Mineral Reservation Board
vs. Cloribel, 31 SCRA 1).
It is the duty of the lawyer not only to his client, but also
to the Courts and to the public to be punctual in
attendance, and to be concise and direct in the trial and
disposition of causes. (Canons of Professional Ethics, 21).
Lawyers should expose without fear or favor before the
proper tribunals corrupt or dishonest conduct in the
profession, and should accept without hesitation
employment against a member of the Bar who has wronged
his client. The counsel upon the trial of a cause in which
perjury has been committed owes it to the profession and to
the public to bring the matter to the knowledge of the
prosecuting authorities. The lawyer should aid in guarding
the Bar against the admission to the profession of
candidates unfit or unqualified because deficient in either
moral character or education. He should strive at all times
to uphold the honor and to maintain the dignity of the
profession and to improve not only the law but the
administration of justice. (Canons of Professional Ethics,
29).
No client, corporate or individual, however, powerful,
nor any cause, civil or political, however important, is
entitled to receive nor should any lawyer render any
service or advice involving disloyalty to the laws whose
ministers we are, disrespect of the judicial office, which we
are bound to uphold, or corruption of any person or persons
exercising a public office or private trust, or deception or
betrayal of the public. When rendering any such improper
service or advice, the lawyer invites and merits stern and
just condemnation. Correspondingly, he advances the
honor of his profession and the best interests of his client
when he renders service or gives advice tending to impress
upon the client and his undertaking exact compliance with
the strictest principles of moral law. He must also observe
and advise his client to observe the statute law, though
until a statute shall have been construed and interpreted
by competent adjudication he is free and is entitled to
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advice as to its validity and as to what he conscientiously

believes to be its just meaning and extent. But above all, a
lawyer will find his highest honor in a deserved reputation
for fidelity to private trust and to public duty, as an honest
man and as a patriotic and loyal citizen. (Canons of
Professional Ethics, 32).
It is the duty of a lawyer to preserve his client’s
confidences. This duty outlasts the lawyer’s employment,
and extends as well to his employees; and neither of them
should accept employment, which involves or may involve
the disclosure or use of these confidences, either for the
private advantages of the client, without his knowledge
and consent, and even though there are other available
sources of such information. A lawyer should not continue
employment when he discovers that this obligation
prevents the performance of his full duty to his former or to
his new client.
If a lawyer is accused by his client, he is not precluded
from disclosing the truth in respect to the accusation. The
announced intention of a client to commit a crime is not
included within the confidences which he is bound to
respect. He may properly make such disclosures as may be
necessary to prevent the act or presence of his client after
full disclosure. (Canons of Professional Ethics, 37). Any
information acquired by counsel during the attorney-client
relationship is confidential. An attorney owes loyalty to his
client not only in the case in which he has represented him
but also after the relation of attorney and client has
terminated and it is not good practice to permit him
afterwards to defend in another case another person
against his former client under the pretext that the case is
distinct from, and independent of the former case.
(Nombrado vs. Hernandez, Administrative Case No. 555,
26 SCRA 13).
Duties of attorneys.—It is the duty of an attorney:

(a) To maintain allegiance to the Republic of the

Philippines and to support the Constitution and
obey the laws of the Philippines;
(b) To maintain the respect due to the courts of justice
and judicial officers;
(c) To counsel or maintain such actions or proceedings
only as appear to him to be just, and such defenses
only as he believes to be honestly debatable under
the law;
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(d) To employ, for the purpose of maintaining the

causes confided to him, such means only as are
consistent with truth and honor, and never seek to
mislead the judge or any judicial officer by an
artifice or false statement of fact or law;
(e) To maintain inviolate the confidence, and at every
peril to himself, to preserve the secret of his client,
and to accept no compensation in connection with
his client’s business except from him or with his
knowledge and approval.
(f) To abstain from all offensive personality, and to
advance no fact prejudicial to the honor or
reputation of a party or witness, unless required by
the justice of the cause with which he is charged;
(g) Not to encourage either the commencement or the
continuance of an action or proceeding, or delay any
man’s cause, from any corrupt motive or interest;
(h) Never to reject, for any consideration personal to
himself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed;
(i) In the defense of a person accused of crime, by all
fair and honorable means, regardless of his
personal opinion as to the guilt of the accused, to
present every defense that the law permits, to the
end that no person may be deprived of life or
liberty, but by the process of law. ((Rule 138,
Section 20, Rules of Court).

§ 3. Suspension and Disbarment

While suspension is the act of the court prohibiting an

attorney from practicing law for a certain definite period
(Archer, Ethical Obligations of the Lawyer, p. 282),
disbarment is the act of the court in withdrawing from an
attorney the right to practice law. (Black’s Law Dictionary,
371). Disbarment is likewise defined as a quasi-summary
proceeding instituted and prosecuted before an appropriate
court for the purpose of depriving an attorney of his license
to practice his profession by reason of some misconduct.
(Ballantine Law Dictionary, 379).
 The distinction between suspension, and disbarment is
that: in suspension, the deprivation of an attorney’s right
to practice his profession is merely for a certain period,
while in disbarment, the deprivation is more or less
permanent. Another distinction between the two is that in
suspension, this

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power is a prerogative vested upon the Court of Appeals

and the Court of First Instance, while in disbarment, this
authority rests exclusively upon the Supreme Court.
The two primary objects of disbarment and suspension
are: (1) To compel the attorney to deal fairly and honestly
with his clients; and (2) To remove from the profession a
person whose misconduct has proved him unfit to be
entrusted with the duties and responsibilities belonging to
the office of an attorney. (Ex Parte Brounsall, 66 C. 66 C.J.
581). Disbarment is intended to protect the court and the
public from the misconduct of officers of the court and to
protect the administration of justice by requiring that those
who exercise this important function shall be competent,
honorable and reliable men in whom courts and clients
may repose confidence. (Paras vs. Vailoces, Administrative
Case No. 439, 1 SCRA 954).
A member of the Bar may be removed or suspended from
his office as attorney by the Supreme Court for any deceit,
malpractice, or other gross misconduct in such office, or by
reason of his conviction of a crime involving moral
turpitude, or for any violation of the oath which he is
required to take before admission to practice, or for a
willful disobedience of any lawful order of a superior court,
or for corruptly or wilfully appearing as an attorney for a
party to a case without authority so to do. The practice of
soliciting cases at law for the purposes of gain, either
personally or through paid agents or brokers, constitutes
malpractice. (Rule 138, Section 27, Rules of Court).
Another ground for suspension or disbarment is found in
Article 209, of the Revised Penal Code. Said article states:
“Betrayal of trust by an attorney or solicitor—Revelation of
secrets.—In addition to the proper administrative action,
the penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period,
or a fine ranging from 200 to 1,000 pesos, or both, shall be
imposed upon any attorney-at-law or solicitor (procurador
judicial) who, by any malicious breach of professional duty
or inexcusable negligence or ignorance, shall prejudice his
client, or reveal any of the secrets of the latter learned by
him in his professional capacity. The same penalty shall be
imposed upon an attorney-at-law or solicitor (procurador
judicial) who, having undertaken the defense of a client or
having received confidential in-

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formation from said client in a case, shall undertake the

defense of the opposing party in the same case, without the
consent of his first client.”
The Court of Appeals or a Court of First Instance may
suspend an attorney from practice for any of the causes
named in the last preceding section, and after such
suspension such attorney shall not practice his profession
until further action of the Supreme Court in the premises.
(Rule 138, Section 28, Rules of Court).
Upon such suspension the Court of Appeals or the Court
of First Instance shall forthwith transmit to the Supreme
Court a certified copy of the order of suspension and full
statement of the facts upon which the same was based.
Upon the receipt of such certified copy and statement, the
Supreme Court shall make full investigation of the facts
involved and make such order revoking or extending the
suspension, or removing the attorney from his office as
such, as the facts warrant. (Rule 138, Section 29, Rules of
Court).
No attorney shall be removed or suspended from the
practice of his profession, until he has full opportunity
upon reasonable notice to answer the charges against him,
to produce witnesses in his own behalf, and to be heard by
himself or counsel. But if upon reasonable notice he fails to
appear and answer the accusation, the court may proceed
to determine the matter ex parte. (Rule 138, Section 30,
Rules of Court).

§ 4. Conclusions

In America (and the Philippines), where the stability of

Courts and of all departments of government rests upon
the approval of the people, it is particularly essential that
the system for establishing and dispensing justice be
developed to a high point of efficiency and so maintained
that the public shall have absolute confidence in the
integrity and impartiality of its administration. The future
of the Republic, to a great extent, depends upon our
maintenance of justice pure and un-sullied. It cannot be so
maintained unless the conduct and the motives of the
members of our profession are such as to merit

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the approval of all just men. (Canons of Professional

Ethics, Preamble).
It is in this regard that the Supreme Court, which has
an inherent and independent authority over lawyers, does
not hesitate to purge the members of the Bar who have not
lived up to their sworn duties. However, the Court also
protects attorneys from unjust accusations that may be
brought against them; this is in line with the judicial oath
to administer justice, particularly among members of the
legal profession.
The case subject of annotation is an example of a just
dismissal of a disbarment case for the protection of a
lawyer. In this case, the complainant filed a disbarment
case against the respondent on the grounds of deceit and
grossly immoral conduct. In resolving the issues, the Court
ruled that the evidence adduced by the complainant has
failed to establish any cause for disciplinary action against
the respondent. As the Solicitor General said in his report,
“From all indications, there is little room for doubt that she
filed this disbarment case not in redress of a wrong, for
there was no wrong committed. It was a voluntary act of
indiscretion between two consenting adults who were fully
aware of the consequences of their deed and for which they
were responsible only to their private consciences.”
(Abaigar vs. Paz, Adm. Case No. 997, September 10, 1979).
This case shows how imperative it is for a lawyer to
exercise decorum at all times. For if a lawyer fails in this
aspect, he discredits the noble profession to which he
belongs and he violates his sworn oath. This being so, he
has no business being a member of a sacred calling and so
he should be purged from among its ranks.

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