is my Trade Tripper column in this weekend issue of BusinessWorld:
That the rule of law is essential for a dynamic and
prosperous society is now widely considered as gospel. It is therefore ironic
that the profession directly and primarily entrusted with upholding it is
oftentimes treated like a necessary nuisance. But contrary to conventional
wisdom, however, the problem is not that we have too many lawyers but rather
whether lawyers are adaptable to today’s shifting demands.
Even then, it’s inaccurate to say we have too many
lawyers. Wikipedia (citing IBP data) says we presently have 40,000 living
lawyers. Assuming that figure correct, we therefore have a “lawyer density” of
2.5 lawyers per 1,000 Filipinos (with an assumed population of 100,000,000). In
which case, our lawyer density is well below that of the US (at 3.65 lawyers
per 1,000 US citizens, and Spain’s 3.36, but above Italy’s 2.33 and Canada’s
2.20; see The Optimum Number of Lawyers,
Stephen P. Magee, November 2010).
But the changed reality of the legal profession today
is such that a huge number of those 40,000 lawyers are not into litigation.
Most instead successfully parlayed their legal discipline as a more rigorous
alternative to a Master’s degree to advance in their careers in corporate
management, entrepreneurship, academe, government, or international economic or
financial institutions. Thus, the number of lawyers actually providing
traditional legal work is relatively small, the short supply probably
explaining the country’s high legal costs.
So, it’s how to adapt and improve – not the quantity
of – lawyers that’s crucial. Which leads to the matter as to what kind of legal
education is most fitting. In 1954, a young man asked US Justice Felix
Frankfurter the same exact question. His reply is as insightful now as it was
then:
“No one can be a truly competent lawyer unless he is a
cultivated man. If I were you I would forget about any technical
preparation for the law. The best way to prepare for the law is to be a
well-read person. Thus alone can one acquire the capacity to use the
English language on paper and in speech and with the habits of clear
thinking which only a truly liberal education can give. No less
important for a lawyer is the cultivation of the imaginative faculties by
reading poetry, seeing great paintings, in the original or in easily available
reproductions, and listening to great music. Stock your mind with the
deposit of much good reading, and widen and deepen your feelings by
experiencing vicariously as much as possible the wonderful mysteries
of the universe, and forget about your future career.”
The answer therefore: a humanities oriented, liberal
arts education. Doubtless one must pass the Bar exams and one should indeed
prepare for it. But a law career goes beyond the Bar, with consequences that
will affect society in general due to the lawyer’s responsibilities in
developing and upholding the rule of law.
This is why
every law school loudly declares its ambition to produce lawyers mindful of the
common good. But as one noted educator pointed out: “A desire to work for the
common good is not enough. The way to make this desire effective is to form
competent men and women who can transmit to others the maturity which they
themselves have achieved.”
This
“maturity” is achievable in several ways. One is PAREF schools’ highly
successful system of “one-on-one mentoring”. Here, each student has a mentor he or
she regularly chats with, forming a supportive relationship that develops the
student’s personality, character, and over-all potential.
Another is instilling in law students the need for a
moral compass, respect for human dignity, self-mastery, and strong faith – all
the products of a good liberal education. And the reason is simple. While
strictly respecting the freedom of students’ consciences, nevertheless, as the
aforementioned educator advised: “A man who lacks religious formation
is a man whose education is incomplete. That is why religion should be present
in the universities, where it should be taught at the high, scholarly level of
good theology. A university from which religion is absent is an incomplete
university, it neglects a fundamental facet of human personality.”
Also
necessary is for our lawyers to develop an “international” outlook. The
constitutional “doctrine of incorporation” made this inevitable, what with
international law forming part of the laws of the Philippines. But this
globalization of our lawyers’ mindsets must also be based on pragmatic
considerations, including particularly our nation’s interests. The decision of
some local law schools to favor WTO or ICC courses (or even the EC), for
example, has sadly come at the expense of lawyers being completely unfamiliar
with the legal systems of our neighboring trading partners in ASEAN and APEC.
In any
event, it’ll be fascinating to see the University of Asia and the Pacific’s
School of Law and Governance (slg.uap.asia) make good on its mission of
producing cultured, multi-disciplined, ethical lawyers capable of responding
ably to society’s altered demands on the legal profession.
