LAWYERING @

CENTURY 21:
Globalization, ICT and the Legal
Profession

By:
Atty. Jose Victor V. Chan-Gonzaga

INTRODUCTION

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-Stephen R. Volk
Shearman Managing Partner

IMPLICATIONS
NATURE OF PRACTICE OF LAW

SOME ESTABLISHED JURISPRUDENCE IN

THE DEFINITION OF PRACTICE OF LAW

In re Del Rosario (52 Phil. 399)

it was simply equated with membership
in the Philippine Bar.

PHILIPPINE LAWYERS ASSOCIATION V.

(105 PHIL. 173)

The SC, speaking

Montemayor said:

through

Mr.

AGRAVA

Justice

In our opinion, the practice of law includes

such appearances before the Patent Office,
the representation of applicants, oppositors
and other persons, and the prosecution of
their applications for patent, their
opposition thereto, or the enforcement of
their rights in patent case.

PEOPLE V. VILLANUEVA
(121 PHIL. 894)

The Court emphasized that practice of

law has been interpreted as customarily or
habitually holding ones self to the public as
a lawyer and demanding payment for such
services.

CAYETANO V. MONSOD
(201 SCRA 210 (1991)

Practice of law as any activity, in or out of

court, which requires the application of law,
legal knowledge, training and experience.

Generally, therefore to practice law is to give

advice or render any kind of service involving
legal knowledge or skill.
- Ruben Agpalo, Legal Ethics 28
It includes the mere preparation of legal
instruments and contracts with which legal rights
are secured, which may or may not be pending in
court.
Ulep v. Legal Clinic, Inc.
(223 SCRA 378)

QUESTION:

If a foreign lawyer does not appear in the

Philippine courts or agencies, for as long as
his relationship with a Filipino, whether an
individual or a corporation, entails the
application of law, legal knowledge, or legal
training, would he be considered as being in
the practice of law in the Philippines?

QUESTION:

Advisory services on international law,

conflict of laws and perhaps even foreign
law, if done within the territorial boundaries
of the country, would it be considered
practice of law?

Yes, In respect to how practice of law is

currently defined by jurisprudence, it is
considered a practice of law.

QUESTION:

In case a lawyer in Boston, advises a Filipino

Corporation entering into a merger with a
Washington Corporation, but only through
the internet, is it considered a practice of
law?

A complication, therefore, arises in view of

the Philippine Constitutions rule that only
those admitted to the Philippine Bar and are
members of good standing thereof, may
practice law in the Philippines.

The rigid requirements and conditions are

not intended to create a monopoly in the
legal profession.

Rather, it is to protect the public, the court,

the client and the bar from the
incompetence and dishonesty of those who
are unfit to become members of the legal
profession.

It cannot be denied also that in view of the

internationalization of a number of legal concepts
and issues, local clients have to draw more and
more on the expertise and experience of foreign
law firms.
International sale
Trans-continental
Multi-modal transportation
Anti- trust and regulatory matters
Multi-jurisdictional taxation
Simple choice-of-law considerations

It is submitted that globalization and

technology shall one day force the Court to
re-examine simple traditional issues like
Practice of Law.

IS PRACTICE OF LAW .

Practice of Law
a
Hallowed Profession

estab

lishe

Director v. Bayot, 74 Phil. 749

In re Tagorda, 53 Phil 37
People v. Daban, GR 31429, 21 January 1972

Practice of Law is a profession, a form of

public trust, the performance of which is
entrusted only to those who are qualified
and who possesses good moral character.
- Agpalo, supra note 9, at 12.

It does not cease to be a profession just

because it also happens to be a means of
livelihood.
-Dean Roscoe Pound

Practice of Law
merely a
Tradeable Service

GENERAL AGREEMENT ON
TRADE IN SERVICES
The term <Services> is defined by the GATS
as any service in any sector except those
supplied in the exercise of governmental
authority.
<Legal Services> would fall under the
Business
Services,
which
includes
professional services.

ALL 4 POSSIBLE MODES OF SUPPLYING

SERVICES INTERNATIONALLY

Cross-border supply

This is a mode in which neither the producer nor the

consumer moves physically, but interact instead
through a communication or a telecommunication
network.

Consumption Abroad

This is where a consumer moves temporarily to a

suppliers country of residence.

Commercial Presence

This is where a commercial organization moves to the

consumers country of residence.

Presence of Natural Persons

This

is where the individual service supplier moves

temporarily to the consumers country of residence.

TWO IMPORTANT ISSUES WITH

RESPECT TO THE PRACTICE OF LAW

Supervision of Legal Services

If lawyering becomes a mere commodity
that is traded everyday in the world market,
the relations between attorney and client
would cease to be a fiduciary relationship
and would virtually be a mere contractual
relationship.

Whether or not the Code of Professional

Reponsibility may cease to have any
practical application,
and the Civil Code provision on contracts
would prevail.

The Issue of Professional Responsibility

Confidentiality
issues,
negligence
accountability may be addressed by
contractual law, but the broader issue of
professional and ethical responsibility will be
inadequately treated by the law on
contracts.

Whether the Legal profession

--in the stone age or
in the internet world
should ever cease from being
Invested with public interest.

LIBERALIZING THE LEGAL

PROFESSION
How about the possibility of foreign
lawyers being allowed to practice in the
Philippines, subject to local rules and
reciprocity, as a consequence of the WTO/
GATS negotiations?

When the world, therefore, including the

Philippines, becomes the market place of
legal services, Filipino lawyers had better be
prepared to compete internationally.
For globalization is integration,
integrations leads to competition.

and

IMPACT ON THE JUDICIARY

Mr. Justice Artemio Panganiban, has clearly

acknowledged that Mount Olympus (referring
to the Court) has been invaded by
microchips, modems and media, and the
lives of the gods have irreversibly been
altered.

CONCLUSION

WTO Director General Mike Moore, in his

seminar book A Brief History of the Futurequotes the argument of Peter Drucker that
the world economy is not changing; it has
already changed in its foundation and in its
structure, and the change is irreversible.

Thank you
And
Have a Great Evening!