Skill Reset

An intrinsic part of the 21st culture of is the youths penchant and partiality to role playing games (RPG). A new player creates a character and picks a job to play. By virtue of choosing a job, he/she excludes other jobs and learns only skills which have been pre-determined by the game creators. What is left to the player is to choose the level of facility or expertise on such skills available from the skill tree. The scenario of a new board passer about to practice law can be viewed in the same light of that new player in the game choosing a job to play and consequently playing the game to level up. Considering the Philippines is a civil law country, preconceived and established rules are crafted by legislators versus that of game creators. Lastly, similar to that of choosing your online party mates to complement your job, you seek fellow lawyers to practice law and learn further the craft. For some, a straightforward approach towards resolving the question is easy while difficult for others. After all, the choice of what type of law to practice has become slightly more intricate since the choices have become quite diverse. Some practicing lawyers share that their chosen field of practice can be attributed to their personal preferences and partiality to the subject matter while others link it to their advocacy work. Like in choosing a character to play, one chooses whether to be thick in the heat of battle or in the sidelines sniping at enemies from afar. Some glory in the battle wounds received in the fray while others humbly bask in the gratitude received by being such wonderful support characters during the skirmish. These considerations quite affect whether one practices adversarial lawyering or not. That the practice of law, as a profession, is purely adversarial in nature has become a contestable issue. The famous case of Cayetano v. Monsod, has shown that the practice of law is not clear cut as before. One can choose to practice law in different ways not adversarial altogether. You can practice law without stepping foot in the hallowed halls of the courts on a daily basis. Such is possible since there is specialization. To specialize in a field affects the lawyers practice by enhancing his/her personal practice as well as increasing chances of success in a resolving a case in his/her favour through greater familiarity with case variables. Such specialization is what has characterized the Philippine law culture for decades. Lawyers practice their profession either flying solo or by joining a law firm. It is easy, therefore, to categorize lawyers in the past as litigation lawyers, family lawyers, company or corporate lawyers to name a few. With these choices, a lawyer can choose to practice law whereupon he/she is a litigant at times or remain an attorney who provides advisory opinions on legal matters outside of court. Indeed, more often than not, lawyers these days provide advisory opinions more often than provide litigation services. With the trend towards party mediation and alternative resolution systems, going to the courts is the least advised action to take. A more radical change than that is the shift from a country-based practice of law to a practice that could not define its boundaries and could not specifically identify its clients.
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Skill Reset

The trend towards internationalization of the profession of law has become a demand due to the changing clients and their demands. What has become evident, therefore, is the need for most lawyers to undergo what in gaming language is called a skill reset. In these role playing games, due to the discovery of new worlds inhabited by much more powerful and difficult enemies to vanquish, players and their characters undergo a rebirth to improve themselves and learn new skills. Unfortunately, this means starting all over again at Level 1. However, the skill reset becomes a necessary evil or else your character will easily perish when you step foot into that new world. Similarly, the world wide trend towards globalization demands that the lawyers of today undergo a skill reset. The internationalization of the practice of law demands that a lawyer extends his/her capabilities by preparing to deal not only with concerns located in the country but concerns located merely in theory such as those actions committed in cybserspace. Closely held principles in the past are now debatable and standard rules are inapplicable. For example, the method of alternative dispute resolution has only gained support within the last decade or so yet this new method of dispute resolution is further modified by the introduction of an online dispute resolution system where there is no need to go face to face with the parties involved. This goes against one of the most basic political rights: the rights of the accused to confront his accuser1. Contracts of sale need not be initialled or signed as proof of acceptance and a mere click has replaced such signatures. Withdrawals, cash transfers, and payments are authorized with a click through online banking systems. IP addresses, email addresses and digital signatures have greater weight as proofs of identity than usual IDs online. These very simple things show that what has been held as given before is not necessarily controlling today. Expanded concepts of persons, new definitions of crimes and non-delineation of jurisdiction are but a few areas that a lawyer today need to familiarize him/herself with. These new concepts do not need mere absorption but also require new skills. A skill reset is thus in order to match client needs. Agreeably, these concepts have undergone an overhaul as well due to globalization and the prevalence of use of technology. While the Philippine Integrated Bar Council insists that only Filipinos can practice law in the Philippines, this insistence has become very superficial considering that the definition of the word practice is by itself changing. It is perhaps better to note that only Filipinos can represent clients in court. In the corporate world alone, HR practitioners of multi-national companies prefer internationally trained labour lawyers to draft employment contracts.

1987 Philippine Constitution, Art. III Sec. 14

Skill Reset

For a lawyer to insist on practicing law without minding the world would show his/her incompetence and emphasize his/her lack of capacity. There must only be acceptance that continuing legal education is a necessity and critical during these changing times. Internationalization of the practice would mean practicing law beyond the constraints of a territory. The lawyer of the 21st century must be aware of what is happening outside of the territory to provide the service expected of him/her. To embrace the internationalization of law would demand that knowledge is not limited to what is available but what is expected. After all, adversaries are not mere graduates of the competitor school but are from international universities versed on international law. The necessary evil of doing a skill reset would require that new skills be acquired to enable the lawyer to enter into the new world where everything is bigger, brighter and scarier. The rules are changing as the world they operate in is enlarging. Mere knowledge of the local law would not work today with laws promulgated in another part of the world affecting laws in the locality. Even canons of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Ethics need a review to ensure that competitiveness of Filipino lawyers are at par worldwide. Similar to the PMAs restrictions on advertisement of services, lawyers are prohibited to advertise themselves which is totally contrary to some foreign based lawyers advertising themselves on scrolling ads in Facebook for assistance on immigration. In the United States, the trend towards multi-disciplinary practice is gaining support while previous homogenous cultures are experiencing an influx of migrations which would require a review of their norms and values. Internationalization would not necessarily require that licenses to practice law in other countries be part of the qualifications of a Filipino lawyer. This, however, would also be a strategic and competitive advantage over fellow lawyers in the field. But what is essential is the acceptance that the world from which the law operates goes beyond the territorial boundaries of the Philippines. The drive for ratification and implementation of international treaties (i.e. International Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, International Convention on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights to name a few) is a sign that the domestic law has been officially subsumed under the force of jus cogens or peremptory laws which are fully binding under natural law theory. As a disclaimer though, the skill reset, which might be helpful, would only allow a slight levelling of the field. This would not remove the need to form coalitions with other players in the field to win the battle. Persistence to learn and continue to grow remain the best weapons against other characters in the game.

PUNO, JASMINE A. Legal Profession I-C