THE ROLE OF A LAWYER[footnoteRef:1] [1: Address delivered by Associate Justice Pedro Tuason on the occasion of the oath-taking ceremony held on March 31, 1948, of the successful candidates in the Bar examinations given in October, 1947.]

By

Hon. Pedro TuasonAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court

It is my privilege by designation of the Court to extend to you greetings and to welcome you as new members of the Bar. Following established tradition, I shall make few remarks.

You need not be reminded that your admission to the Bar marks not the end but the beginning of your education. Law is a progressive science, constantly growing and creating new problems and challenges for the members of the Bar to meet. Old laws are constantly superseded, implemented or supplemented by legislation in keeping with the rapid march of civilization. While human nature remains the same, human relationships, human needs, and new orders of things to which human nature has to be adopted are never changing and taking place. It falls upon the lot of lawyers to keep pace with these changes and to see that law keeps up with the time. A lawyer who does not grow with his profession will find himself losing and his profession losing with him in public regard.

And the education of a lawyer is not confined to law. Knowledge of law is of course first essential but it is not of itself enough. There must be cultural background which develops character and out of which springs the serene mind, the subtle understanding, the insight, which are distinctive of man. Above all, a lawyer must have a good command of language. Knowledge of law like many other ideas has to be expressed in words. Knowledge of law is of little avail if its possessor can not present his case or state his opinion in appropriate and adequate form. Good command of language cuts down the tasks of a lawyer and improves the quality of his work to an extent only those who are handicapped by lack of it, like your speaker, can realize. Sound knowledge of law, strong character and good acquaintance with humanities-these epitomize the harmonious elements of a complete and ideal lawyer, and they may be acquired and cultivated by ones independent efforts.

The profession which you have chosen is one of the most noble and useful. It is devoted to the administration of justice than which, it has been said, there is nothing greater in a civilized community. Men of law occupy and have occupied positions in the front rank among the leaders of every civilized and democratic country, in government affair as well as in the administration of law. They fill positions of responsibility in all branches of the government by election or by appointment. Here, as in other democratic countries, lawyers led in the framing of the instrument which guaranties to the people liberty, right to property and the pursuit of happiness. It was lawyers in England and in America, the cradles of modern democracy, who by their courage and patriotism established respect for and supremacy of law, a heritage which has become ours and is shaping our destiny as a nation and as individuals.

The lawyers influence is felt in business and industry no less than in politics and in the administration of justice. Law-trained men, men with a basic knowledge of law, play an important part in the management of business and industrial enterprises, large and small. They share leadership in other fields of activities in the cause of labor, in most institutions of public objectives. In a nation where law is the foundation of social order, the legal profession is focused and indissolubly linked with almost all phases of life.

But rights and privileges accorded lawyers exact correlative duties and responsibilities to the public as well as to their clients and the courts. By reason of their calling the lawyers is the obligation to the public to take active interest in the maintenance of government under law. Individually and by collective efforts it devolves upon lawyers to fight encroachments on the peoples cherished institutions from without or from within. In these days of clashing social and political ideologies, when revolutionary hands threaten to undermine democracy, the responsibility rests upon lawyers to take up the cudgels to protect the way of life which our heroes have fought to obtain and preserve.

Even judges as human beings are not immune to the sound of passing shibboleths. Lawyers who stand for government of laws are best capacitated, and all groups of individuals are expected, to see that the course of justice is not side-tracked by prevailing social currents and emotional appeals of politics and social catchwords. It is the sworn duty of lawyers as officers of the court to scrutinize judicial actuations and decisions not only on behalf of their clients but also in the interest of the public weal. It is their duty to criticize court decisions and offer constructive suggestions. Criticisms of courts actions are salutary and will not be resented if they do not spring from malice or other improper motives, and are kept within the bounds of decorum. There is a need among us of a law publication which would serve as forum for the expression of lawyers views on current legal topics, and of a militant bar that would its voice heard and heeded.

This is not a hint for lawyers to take sides. I do not think that it is their function or is worthy of their office as men of law. As lawyers and as members of the judicial machinery, we hold no brief for or against rabid nationalism or extreme radicalism nor for the decaying forces of reaction. Our sphere of interest lies in seeing that the ship of state is kept at even keel, that social order and legal processes without which no democracy can exist are observed and respected. We see the laws and constitution as creatures of the people to be changed only by the people themselves through their chosen representatives and not by twisted interpretations by courts or other branches of the government. Let us be wise to the idea that those who would secure justice through highhanded methods or spurious statutory or constitutional construction may spell their own doom; they may, in the cycle of events, become the victims of the exercise of arbitrary power and injustice. To paraphrase the author of the Declaration of American Independence, it behooves every man who values justice and liberty for himself to desist invasion of democratic principles in his behalf, lest the case may, in the change of circumstances, become his own. Where law ends, tyranny begins; and tyranny does not select whom it would oppress. There is no true and lasting liberty save liberty of and under law even through the processes of law sometimes be cumbersome and exasperatingly slow.

With questions of professional ethics, you are familiar. Your duties to your clients, towards your brother-lawyers, towards the court and the public are still fresh in your memory. There is only one thing which in my experience on the bench I can not emphasize too strongly. It is the absolute necessity of integrity and fidelity to truth and of industry. Someone has said that genius is not inspiration; it is perspiration. While we know that this if far from correct, it is true, nevertheless, that a lawyer can not go far in his profession unless he works hard and familiarizes himself with his cases thoroughly. Court litigations are complicated matters, and judges are hard-boiled. Cases are won in our judicial system not on oratory and citations of abstract principles of philosophy but on arguments based on solid facts on law and reason; and it takes sweat to marshal, mobilize and analyze facts, to reduce them to the essentials, and to find the law applicable to a given set of circumstances. Let us always remember the advice of Justice Joseph Story:

Whenever you speak, remember every causeStands not on eloquence, but stands on laws.Pregnant in matter, in expression brief,Let every sentence stand in bold relief!On trifling points nor time nor talents waste,Nor deal with pompous phrase; nor neer supposePoetic flights belong to reasoning prose.Loose declamation may deceive the crowdAnd seem more striking as it grows more loud;But sober sense rejects it with wisdom plain,As naught but empty noise and weak as vain.

By preparing and presenting cases well a lawyer achieves manifold results with one stroke. He serves clients and earns his retainer; he serves the cause of justice which he has sworn to uphold and enhances the prestige of his profession and public confidence in the administration of law; he relieves the overloaded court of its burden enabling other cases to be attended to.

But the first quality in a lawyer is character, without which all else fails in the long run. A lawyer must be man of such integrity that the Court can rely on his own word. A lawyers devotion to the interest of his client must be compatible with honest administration of the law. An attorneys duty to his client is a solemn obligation but it is not greater than the law itself. If it is important that attorneys be fair with their clients, it is more vital that they be honest with the court, of the machinery of which they are a part. Courts expect from attorneys absolute honesty and fairness and do not countenance as smart any success achieved through perjured testimony or maneuvers designed to mislead and confuse the tribunals.

Before closing, I take the liberty of giving you this portrait of the role of a lawyer by H. H. Emmons, published in a recent issue of Case and Comment

A truly great lawyer is one of the highest products of civilization.

He is the master of the science of human experience.

He sells his clients the results of that experience, and is thus the merchant of wisdom.

The labors of many generations of legislators and judges enrich his stores.

His learning is sufficient to enable him to realize the comparative littleness of all human achievements.

He has outlived the ambition of display before courts and juries.

He loves justice, law and peace.

He has learned to bear criticism without irritation, censure without anger, and calumny without retaliation.

He has learned how surely all schemes of evil bring disaster to those who support them, and that the granite shaft of a noble reputation cannot be destroyed by the poisoned breath of slander.

A great lawyer will not do a mean thing for money.

He hates vice, and delights to stand forth a conquering champion of virtue.

The good opinions of the just are precious to his esteem, but neither the love of friends nor the fear of foes can swerve him from the path of duty.

He esteems his office as counselor as higher than political place or scholastic distinction.

He detests unnecessary litigation, and delights in averting danger and resorting peace by wise counsel and skillful plans.

The good works of the counsel room are sweeter to him than the glories of the forum.

He proves that honesty is the best policy, and that peace pays both lawyer and client better than controversy.

In the legal contest, he will give his client the benefit of the best presentation of whatever points of fact or law may be in his power, but he will neither pervert the law nor falsify the facts to defeat an adversary.

The motto of his battle-flag is: Fidelity to the law and the facts-Semper Fidelis.

If, coupled with fidelity to this spirit, the lawyer is a consistent student of the constantly changing stage setting of the law, he cannot go far wrong.