Law and Leadership

LAW AND LEADERSHIP

(Article published in the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Leader Magazine, January-March 2007 Issue)

The Law is, to many people, a myriad and very abstract concept that seems almost magical. Even those whose profession demands mastery of the law, such as lawyers, often have difficulty articulating concretely what the law is. Compound the abstractness of law with the concept of leadership, which many consider just as abstract, and you have a recipe for confusion. Or so you would think.

Many intellectuals seemingly advocate that leadership is the domain of those in the management sector. Many of the more prominent leaders are those who possess an MBA or management diplomas. The reality however, is that lawyers have served just as well in leadership positions. This article hopes to discuss and elaborate on lawyers as leaders, the concepts of law and leadership in the view of law practitioners, what it takes to be a good leader and on the vital interplay or connection between law and leadership.

Lawyers as Leaders
Traditionally, those who practice the law or are well-versed in it have served as some of the most competent of leaders. The examples are legion. The famous former Mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani has proven to be an exceptional chief executive of the city. The Philippines’ own Rudy Duterte has proven his leadership mettle during his tenure as Mayor of Davao City. Jovito Salonga, Juan Ponce Enrile and Francis “Chiz” Escudero have served well in their legislative careers due to their legal training. Atty. Avelino Cruz is widely considered as one of the most effective Defense Secretaries the Philippines has ever had. Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s ascension to the Office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was widely hailed due to his excellent reputation as a respectable leader. Atty. Felipe Gozon of GMA Network is a lawyer and a successful leader-manager, which is a rarity, as few are able to straddle the world of law and management (and concomitantly, that of leadership) and become successful in both.

Bill Clinton, arguably one of the most successful, if controversial Presidents of the United States was a lawyer as well. Al Gore, one of the strongest vice-presidents the United States has ever had was not a lawyer as he never took the Bar, but he did study in law school, and he has credited much of his success to the discipline he learned while there. The same could be said of the former Chief of the PNP General Edgardo Aglipay, who was a law school graduate. Many leaders trace their leadership successes to their time in law school and the training they received.

Atty. Eugenio Villareal, the founding partner of the Law Firm Escudero Marasigan Vallente & E.H. Villareal (EMSAVVIL Law) and a noted litigator believes his training in the law helped him assume leadership roles in his career. He says that, “as we studied in law school, we were trained to be responsible: that this calling we were engaged in was no ordinary one, but was meant to lead others to a better and upright life.”

In fact, Villareal believes that “the distinct way of thinking and reasoning inherent in lawyering has helped me help others in plowing through the various mazes in society: crisis litigation, issues in education, problems in media, corruption in government, the shocking disrespect for life, to name some.”

In a legal profession class, a Justice of the Court of Appeals, which is the second highest court of the land, once said that within any community, it is the lawyer who often finds himself thrust into leadership roles. Clearly, these are roles which many lawyers are uniquely trained for and many of whom are willing to undertake.

Atty. Sedfrey Candelaria, Associate Dean for Student Affairs of the Ateneo Law School says that “knowledge of the law and legal processes by itself places a lawyer at a certain leadership potential.” Atty. Candelaria, who also serves in the Government Negotiating Panel with the CPP-NPA, and is a respected educator in the Philippine Judicial Academy (which trains Judges of the Philippines), credits much of his success to his training. “My work in the peace negotiations or even judicial education has been enriched by my legal training,” he says.

Former Dean of the Ateneo Law School Atty. Cynthia Del Castillo, even goes as far as saying that most successful leaders are lawyers. She cites, as an example, the fact that most American presidents have been lawyers. She attributes this to the training of lawyers to advocate and convince.

The current Dean of the Ateneo Law School, Dean Cesar L. Villanueva, who received his Masters of Law (L.L.M) from Harvard University, and is an authority in Commercial Law, believes that lawyers have the capacity to be good leaders. They are gifted to interpret and find the essences of the law.

With the law and training in it seemingly playing a large role in the development of leaders, this necessarily begs the question: What is the Law?

The Law
Some leaders answer the question of what law is in an uncomplicated manner. Atty. Eugenio Villareal believes that law is simply “the compulsion to do good.” Associate Dean Candelaria seemingly agrees when he says that “law is a set of rules and norms governing society inspired by reason and founded on the principles of justice and fairplay.”

Ms. Venarisse Verga, a member of the Association of Law Students of the Philippines (ALSP) and an active Ateneo Law School campus leader looks at law in a more technical manner. She sees law as “a set of norms promulgated by the legislative body and enforced by the executive branch of the government.”

Dean Villanueva more philosophically provides that law is an expression of how the country seeks to guide itself, that it is a means to enforce compliance.

Atty. Edsel Tupaz, a rising lawyer and law clerk in the halls of the Supreme Court, quotes Professor Charles Fried in defining law: “Law is a moving argument, shaped by politically relevant actors, through a series of decisions made under the dimension of time, like a score of music. (Cf. Prof. Charles Fried, 2000)”

A more layman-oriented definition of law for this day and age can be attributed to Mr. Rafael Vicente Calinisan of the Ateneo Student Council. To him, “law is a listing of things one should strive to do and ought not be caught doing.”

Leadership
This still begs the question though, what is leadership? Traditional conceptions of leadership have proven somewhat militaristic and authoritarian, however that form of leadership is no longer prevalent or encouraged in the business world or even in the military, where leadership is a life or death necessity. West Point, the premiere military academy of America, once advocated a form of leadership that basically boiled down to “do this or else.” This leadership style has waned, and is likewise no longer even in vogue in the legal profession, which once abounded with authoritarian and draconian leadership in law schools and law firms.

Reflecting this trend, practitioners of the law currently define leadership in more inspirational terms. For example, Mr. Calinisan understands leadership as “collectively making other stars brighter than yours.”

Atty. Poncevic Ceballos, founder of the Ceballos Law Firm and president of the Philippine Bonsai Society, believes that Leadership is the ability to let people follow and respect you.

Dean Villanueva, who was a bar topnotcher, provides that leadership is an exercise by which members of society or a community are able to pinpoint a person or group of persons by which they can organize their collective resources.

Atty. Villareal, however, believes that leadership is something more. Leadership to him, is “being able to define a vision, embody it, and boldly lead people to follow that vision — notwithstanding the odds.” Associate Dean Candelaria agrees. To him, leadership is “the capacity of a person to inspire or motivate other persons to perform their tasks or pursue their mission with passion.”

Perhaps the foremost inspirational understanding of leadership can be traced to the statement of Atty. Edsel Tupaz, a law clerk of the Supreme Court. He provides that “Leadership is the trait in a man or woman which commands the multitude under an unseen force, or some felt, universal necessity shared by the rest, and, furthermore, is accompanied by a feeling of a hero who never thinks under the censure of philosophers or divines, and, therefore, he is always right. And third, the leader dwells on the greatest and most formidable type of living, which history has so many things to say. I refer to none other than the national life, a life sometimes checkered with failure, or injured grandeur, of wounded heroism, but, a great life nonetheless, for it is far better to have failed than to never have tried at all; a life of a man or woman who has character, that is to say, he is a good man, a good husband, a woman, a good mother and spouse, both knowing that they are, and will always remain to be, students of the world ”

It is clear therefore that leadership now consists greatly of inspiration and cooperation, motivation, vision and passion, among others. Leadership, especially among lawyers, seemingly consists of achieving a vision by inspiration and motivation.

To be a Leader
To be a leader requires many things, no matter what field one is in. For Atty. Villareal, “A leader must first have a big heart — generous and magnanimous, full of love for the others such that he seeks their good always. He or she must be one who never despairs, but perseveres to the end. Alongside this must be being a good example, especially in humility and the desire to learn as well as to begin and begin again. Finally, a leader must have faith — pananalig sa Diyos — for working towards the good, to be consistent, must be in line with a supernatural outlook of things.”

Mr. Calinisan believes that “to be a leader, one needs a good dose of patience, and tons of discernment. Work gets done not by you, but through other people. Possessing an ability to inspire others wouldn’t hurt at all. In fact, it might be the most important aspect of leadership.”

Ms. Verga, who also works with Mr. Calinisan in the Ateneo Law School Student Council, agrees with his basic idea of a leader. For her, to be a leader, “One must learn how to attract people, and motivate them towards a goal. Being a leader should not entail inducing fear but rather, respect from the people being lead. One should be firm but flexible to a certain extent.”

It would seem then that to be a good leader requires qualities that can be present in any field or profession, whether in business or even the law. Though there is, in the opinion of many practitioners, a marked predisposition on the part of lawyers towards leadership, they do not, by all means, have a monopoly on it. But for Atty. Villareal, the type of training that a lawyer has, and the challenges he or she faces everyday make for good material to form a leader.

And this is perhaps why there is a strong interplay between law and leadership.

The interplay between Law and Leadership
Most law practitioners state that there is an interplay between the two concepts, but Atty. Tupaz emphasizes that “leadership, as master, should not be wrought by its servant, which is the law.”

Atty. Villareal definitely believes that there is an interconnection between law and leadership. “To live, fulfill, enforce, and develop the law, one must dare to lead and blaze a trail, so to speak.”

For both Atty. Ceballos and former Ateneo Law School Dean del Castillo, the interplay between the two concepts is based on the fact that “to enforce the law, you need leadership.”

Associate Dean Candelaria considers effective leadership, which presupposes an interplay between both law and leadership, as implying “the capacity to influence others to follow the rules set by society to govern relationships among its members.” To the Associate Dean, “this is best achieved by a leader who abides by these rules.”

Dean Villanueva, who is famous for his philosophically deep discussions in the classroom, states that with law and leadership there is an interconnection based on two parameters. The 1st parameter is that of thinking or molding leadership. Leaders are representatives of the people, who are elected by the people to determine what the law should be. This is then followed by the 2nd parameter, that of active leadership, whereby leaders lead the community and are followed if they are themselves following or implementing the essence and meaning of the laws that had been determined.

Therefore, to the Dean, the interconnection between law and leadership is that “law is an expression of the community and of those leaders who actively lead society to the fulfillment of their ideals.”

Conclusion: The Magic of Law and Leadership
Law and Leadership, though considered abstract terms by many, are by no means necessarily confusing concepts. They can be defined and understood, as many lawyers and leaders have attempted to do. Nor are law and leadership mutually exclusive. Law is not just the domain of lawyers, nor is leadership simply the domain of managers. They can and do co-exist in the form of leader-lawyers. And unlike other leaders, leaders with legal training know the law, which is a clear and marked advantage over those who do not. This in fact, seems to serve as the biggest benefit of lawyers who become leaders.

It is with this thought in mind that a modest proposal is made. Perhaps managers who have traditionally been the foremost leaders, should also be trained or at least be well-versed in law programs. They can learn the basics of the law, so that law in itself shall no longer be such an abstract concept.

Many undergraduate institutions already provide for the very basics of the law, with short courses in Obligations and Contracts, Sales and Credit Transactions and even Negotiable Instruments. Other institutions, perhaps seeing the unique advantages of both law and management (which necessarily embodies leadership), have already provided for dual degree programs, where students can finish with two graduate degrees, the Juris Doctor-Masters of Business Administration (J.D.-M.B.A.); one degree in law, the other in management, respectively.

However, it must be remembered that, although knowing the law is an important aspect of what makes lawyers unique and seemingly well-suited to leadership, the law itself is not a magical incantation. Knowing the law does not necessarily nor magically transpose leadership skills into a person, nor does the law itself allow its followers or practitioners to change society and its people.

According to Dean Villanueva, “we believe that the law can change society and thereby change the hearts of the people, but it does not do that. It is not magical. The law does not change society. It is our hearts that can change society, it is our hearts that can change the law.”

Thus, it is our hearts as embodied in leadership that allow us to change society. No law has ever changed society or the world, but there have been many leaders who have done so, whether lawyers or not. That is perhaps what it boils down to. It is true that leaders who know the law do have a marked advantage. But it is with their hearts and souls that leaders have changed the world. And that is the true magic of leadership.