How To Review For The Bar

Here are excerpts from an email I wrote to some of my friends on how to prepare and review for the bar exam. I edited it to make it into a blogpost.

These are based on a number of Ateneo barops reading materials, the advice of my friends who passed the Bar, and several books, lectures and websites on passing the Bar. I hope these ideas help you as it did me.

Proper Nutrition
My wife says to  make sure you  get proper nutrition during the bar. She used to feed me what she called her brain gain food (nuts, grains and other healthy foods for the brain, you can find it online), and had me drinking vitamins and gingko biloba stuff from healthy options. Expensive but admittedly a big help, even if just for the psychological effect.

Readings and Schedules
I aimed for three readings of my materials and then a preweek reading, which made for a total of four readings. I suggest you aim for more than one reading in any case. In your first reading you are only just getting the ideas in your head. By the 2nd things make sense and by the third that’s when you feel like you know the subject, regardless of whether your third is the preweek reading already for you.

In light of this, the schedule is VERY important. Make sure you have a battleplan-schedule  by the time you graduate from law school, so you know what it is you will do  when you start reviewing. Assess yourself early and try to write down your schedule.

I suggest you get a calendar and write down on each day of the calendar what the subject is you will review for that day and so on. So that in one glance you get an idea what your schedule for the week/month will be etc.

But don’t make that schedule the gospel truth. Adjust it once in a while.

For example, my commercial law 1st reading was originally set for 7 days, but because I had to go to a couples discovery weekend seminar, which ate up two days, I had to adjust and make my commercial law reading only 5 days and a half instead, and then I made my criminal law 4 and a half days rather than the original 5 i had planned.

Just Adjust. You can always make up for it.

Take Breaks
As for breaks, I never had a rest day (i.e. one day where I never studied) but I had what I called slack days. Slack days are those  days when I would only review for like 3-5 hours. This served three purposes: one, I wouldn’t burn out, and two, i wouldn’t psychologically be bothered that i didn’t study that day and feel guilty, and three i wouldn’t lose momentum and become lazy.

My slack days were usually my date days. I set aside one day a week to go out with my dreamgirl (and now wife). We’d catch a movie or just watch dvds at her place.

Btw I don’t suggest alcohol as stress release because by the next day, you may lose time trying to get up and recover from the hangover or whatever. So avoid alcohol for the bar. You will get a chance to get crazy ass drunk on the last Sunday of September when the Bar exams end.

I also took frequent breaks during the day. Just 5-10 minutes to rest my eyes, or have a cup of coffee, etc.

I also would set up schedule and adjust my time to watch a particular TV show once in a while.  I would also try to catch the Fightquest  TV Show on Monday night on the Discovery Channel. Or  the Sopranos on HBO. Whatever rocks your boat.

Just try to unwind a little bit everyday or treat yourself a bit once in a while. Or have phone calls each night before you sleep (i talked to my dreamgirl every night on the phone after reviewing, for example) whatever fits your style. Just so you won’t go nuts from all that studying.

Study Time in a Day
Oh and with regard to time to study in a day, I got a stopwatch like a lot of other guys did (such as Bar topnotcher Atty. Diaz), and timed myself everyday and then recorded it in my calendar-schedule. It’s a good way to check your progress.

So if you did only say, 4 hours today, you know you should push yourself a little harder the next day and try to hit 7 or 8. (Make sure to time ONLY the actual time you hit the books. Not the time you are sitting down and chatting with your co-reviewees etc. )

Try to aim for around 7-8 hours of study in  a day. But in the first few months the normal time you will  be hitting is probably around 4-5 hours only or even less (according to several Atenean Bar Topnotchers, this is very normal). Heck the first week of my review I only did two or three hours a day despite sitting down the whole day. That’s normal. As time goes by, you’ll think nothing of 7-8 hours of review a day. At my peak and panic time around August I was already doing 9-11 hours a day, depending on my focus.

Handwriting and Past Bar Exam Questions
Oh and practice writing in print. My handwriting is horrible. So i would practice a lot by writing and doing mock bars (more on that below).

Furthermore, be sure to get copies of the past bar exams and their answers. Those allowed me to practice how to answer the Bar. So after every reading of each subject, I would try and test myself with a practice exam under similar Bar Exam times or circumstances. So it’s like a mock Bar for me already. This way, your mind will get used to not only taking in info by studying, but also  how to release that info under a test setting or mock Bar.

Review Classes To Attend
As for what review classes to go to [in the Ateneo Bar Review Program], I cant tell you who you should and shouldn’t go to since I don’t know who are the ones giving classes this time, but I can tell you to PICK carefully. Discern which subjects you need a refresher course in.

If you are weak in say criminal, then by all means go to criminal review classes. Just make sure the prof is someone worth going to. I skipped almost all review classes myself since the time it would take me to go to school was too much for me. It takes me about thirty minutes to get ready to go to school (shower, get dressed etc) and then another hour to get to Ateneo just to attend the class. Sometimes all that time spent on just getting to school seemed like a waste to me. I was better off just reading my review materials at home.

But then again, this is a personal preference. A fellow Bar exam passer would study and then take breaks from studying by going to review classes. He said that instead of reading all the time, listening to lectures also allowed him to learn in a different way. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

But what you shouldn’t skip on are the classes on jurisprudence updates. They are very very useful. Attorney Candelaria’s political law updates, for example, discussed the topic of soft law in the Milk Code case. A question connected to soft law came out in my batch’s bar exam.

Take Notes
I also suggest that you have a notebook for each Bar subject. Then while you review, you take notes or write down what you feel are important points on the law, or even significant updates in jurisprudence. Taking notes helps you anchor the concepts in your head. Plus, by the end of your 1st or 2nd reading, you can review by simply reading your notebooks.

In my case, in the hour or two before the Bar Exam proper, I didn’t rely on those miscellaneous tips (bluetips, UP tips, etc.) that school or fraternity bar operations would distribute. Instead I focussed on reading my own notes.

And speaking of tips, try not to obsess over getting copies of those “killer” tips. Killer tips do not mean that you have the answers to the questions and will pass the Bar already. Those tips, such as the Ateneo Bluetips, are simply the educated guesses of Barops and Professors on what will come out in the Bar. Tips will never replace a good review. Just study well and you will pass, tips or no tips.

Have Faith
Also, and if you will allow me this chance to talk about God for a moment, let me tell you that I prayed a lot during review. It helped.

I also read the Bible once in a while, especially when it felt like the task was impossible. I also had a pastor-friend who i could text or talk to and ask that he pray for me. I suggest you do the same, and get someone spiritually mature (like a priest or pastor) to pray for you, or with you.

If you aren’t religious, then I suggest you go with whatever you are comfortable with, like meditation or yoga or whatever. But in my opinion, God is the one who gets us through trials like these. And praying never hurts.

I hope these tips on how to review for the Bar helps you. In my next post, I will list the books and materials I used for Bar Review.

I passed the Bar!!!

After a whole day of gut crunching tension, I finally found out that on Friday night that I was one of the 1,310 examinees   who passed the 2008 Bar examinations. According to the official list released by the Philippine Supreme Court, and published in, among others, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, I am successful examinee number 688.

This means I am going to become a full lawyer soon!!! All those years of hard-work and endless nights of study have finally paid off.

But even as I feel immense happiness and relief for passing the Bar exam, I can’t help but feel sad over the fate of those who did not. Some of my batchmates, one of them quite close to me, didn’t make it to the list of people who passed the Bar. I don’t know how it happened, especially since the friend I am referring to is infinitely smarter than me and has much better grades. But that’s the Bar exam for you. You can, unfortunately, never tell.

I praise God for allowing  me to pass. But I also pray to God that He grant those who did not pass the strength to soldier on and face the exams again.

The Bar is a cruel and painful examination. And I wouldn’t wish failure on my worst enemy. So I honestly can’t imagine how painful it must feel to not make it. Although I have read about how some people I know are already bouncing back from the Bar results. In any case, all I can say now to those who didn’t make it, is that my prayers are with you. God Bless.

ps – A number of people have asked me about Bar Preparations. Although I am no Bar top-notcher, I am willing to share what info and tips I have. Will update with some Bar review tips soon.

Television Has Too Many Lawyer Shows!

The general public is fascinated with lawyers. Aside from cop shows and doctor shows, lawyer shows seem to be the most popular television shows.

A quick count will make you realize that TV land seems to be chock full of lawyers and lawyer shows.

Lawyer shows even seem interesting enough to support channels like Court TV, a cable TV channel that is dedicated to law and legal processes, or channels like Crime and Suspense which runs lawyer shows like Boston Legal, Law and Order and the Practice. Other channels run Ally McBeal, Shark, and Justice . And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. All of them are lawyer shows.

So many lawyer shows populate TV that you actually have people who know the intricacies of the court system simply from watching TV.

You get people who know to shout out “objection” when a cross examination is becoming aggressive, or to say “overruled” when a judge sees no point in that objection.

You know that there are judges who give out rulings which can be appealed to a higher court, or that there are trials by jury (in some jurisdictions) or that lawyers must speak to a judge with the honorific “your honor.”

Most lawyer shows focus on the fast-paced lifestyle of lawyering. The looming deadlines, the rich clients, the high-profile cases, the exciting court appearances and trials.

In many of these shows, the lawyer is portrayed as rich, or at the very least, powerful. A lawyer is able to change the course of a person’s life by virtue of his training in the law and his skill in trial.

Some of the best shows, even if they are not about court appearances or trials, still involve lawyers. Like Dirty Sexy Money (sadly cancelled), where the main character is a lawyer who works for a rich New York family named the Darlings.

There you see that a lawyer has access to one of the richest families because of his lawyering work. He goes to court for his clients, he negotiates for them, and drafts legal documents.

So altogether, you have people who want to become lawyers because they imagine the glamorized world in those tv shows. A world of high pay and interesting work, of trials and court appearances. A world of glamour and prestige. Of access and privilege.

What they usually don’t realize is that lawyering isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be.

TV shows only show the interesting parts of the life of lawyers. They don’t show (or at least don’t emphasize) the very long hours of preparation, the groundwork that has to be done, the rigorous time of study and the often mind-numbing experience of legal research (ironically one of the areas I excel at, but that’s another post).

As a result, most new law students get disillusioned when they realize what real lawyering has in store for them. The endless hours of work is often enough to turn off many such students.

This brings the mind the need for passion. You have to have a passion for the law to want to do this everyday for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, passion for the law can’t be gained nor transmitted from TV.

I guess in a way, the glamour of TV lawyer shows is bad for the profession. It glamorizes lawyers and puts them in a different light.

Yes, it does attract new people to the profession, but I am not sure if that’s the kind of people you would want practicing law.

In any case, in the same way that too many cooks spoil the broth, too many TV shows may spoil the profession.

I think we have enough lawyer shows now. Really.

Trying To Oust A Chief Justice

If the rumors I have been hearing are true, there is a scramble to oust the current Chief Justice via the unpromulgated Limkaichong case. The only way to oust a Justice of the Supreme Court, even a Chief Justice, is by impeachment, and I honestly don’t see any ground in this case.

Presuming then that there is indeed no real ground for impeachment, what would be the point about the loud rumors of impeaching a Chief Justice? I can see no other reason except to attack the reputation of a reputable Chief Justice, one who is widely considered as the best constitutionalist in the Court today and a champion of human rights who shepherded the creation of the Rules on the Writ of Amparo and Habeas Data.

Chief Justice Puno has a strong reputation in legal circles as an intelligent and learned legal scholar, whose opinions on Constitutional and even political issues are greatly respected.

So why sully his reputation? Perhaps the people working in the shadows are hoping the Chief will resign on his own and clear the path for the President to have a grand sweep of the Court? But from what I know of the Chief’s character, he is unlikely to do that. Instead, he will stay true to his duty to the law and the Court, and stay in his position as the Chief Justice.

Do the people behind this move really think impeachment will succeed though? Impeachment has never succeeded yet in this country or under this current Constitution. The closest we came to impeachment was the impeachment trial of Erap Estrada, which ultimately led to his political downfall over the unopened envelope issue (although he got pardoned after his conviction in the Sandiganbayan anyway).

It is deeply suspicious that it is usually the more respected Chief Justices who get slapped with impeachment proceedings. Chief Justice Davide once got shot with an impeachment case. It didn’t even come close to succeeding, since the public furor over that scuttled the case. Now another Chief Justice is being targeted over what I can only presume to be political reasons. But I am betting that this rumored attempt to impeach the Chief Justice will not succeed either. It will get no support, not politically nor publicly.

Remember, this is the Chief Justice who fought extrajudicial killings with the Rules on Amparo and Habeas Data. Civil Society will fight to defend him, and even the media is likely to side with the Chief.

When will politics keep their hands off the Court? When will our government institutions start to respect each other? When will the time come that a good man, a Chief Justice, will not be attacked (or impeached) without good reason?

I don’t know if that will happen in my lifetime.

I know one thing though, this purported move to oust the Chief Justice will not succeed. I know it, and I think the people who are vainly trying to take him down know it too. The most they can do is try to tarnish his reputation and legacy.

Well good luck with that Sirs and Madames. Because I am betting that even this will not succeed.

(Cross-posted with Filipino Voices. Column piece for the Sunstar Davao)

Law School Guerilla Tactics

After graduating from law school, I realized that there are a few tactics that can help you survive in law school, and theoretically, survive the rat race of life.

You see, when I first got into law school, I thought I could handle it with no problem since I knew many of the people who went there ahead of me.

I had worked in China for a few years before deciding to take up law, so many of my former batchmates from college were  upperclassmen in law school. They showed me the ropes and told me about all the things I needed to know about legal education. I was pretty confident I could breeze through it.

Boy was I wrong.

Instead of handling law school studies with ease, I wound up nearly buckling under the pressure. It’s true what they say: some of the demands of law school ARE impossible. Part of what you learn in law school is how to deal with those impossible demands.

So here are a few unorthodox guerilla tactics on how to cope with law school.

1.)    Prioritize – with so much to read, there is no way you can finish everything, no matter how hard you try. One suggestion then, is to pick the most important things you have to do and do it. You can ignore the others and hope for the best. Or, in the alternative, you can opt for damage control (see below).

2.)    Damage Control – you can only do sooo much. You will likely get called sooner or later, and more than likely, it will be on a topic you didn’t get a chance to read. So what to do? Well try and control the damage. Read up on some of the more important or likely to be discussed topics.

Or better yet, if you can, read a little on every topic so you can at least have some ammunition to throw at the professor when you get called in recitation. Forget about complete mastery of the topics. It’s better to know a little about everything rather than master one topic and know nothing about the others. One alternative tactic however, is tip # 3.

3.)    Play the Averages – one reason people study and read so much is because of the fear of getting called on a question and being unable to answer. But since you can’t read everything, you can gamble a little bit and concentrate on a specific class where you will really be called.

It’s like Sun Tzu. Concentrate all your forces where your opponent is weak. In the same way, concentrate and study the subject where you will likely be called. If one subject doesn’t demand much study, then forget it for now and study for the subjects which do. And do so quickly. Remember you don’t have that much time on your hands.

Yes, these tactics do not make for good academic mastery. That’s why they’re unorthodox guerrilla tactics. Their purpose is survival, not academic excellence. These tactics are mostly for those folks who want to go to law school, survive it, and still have a life.

So the next questions: Did these tactics work for me? Do I still have a life? Well, I’m writing this column, graduated from law school with a Best Thesis (Silver Medal) award, and have been together with my girlfriend for the entirety of 4 years. And recently, I married her. So you tell me.

Some Law School Survival Tips That Seem Sooo Obvious in Hindsight

It’s been almost one year since I graduated from law school. At this time, the 2nd semester should be about done. After finishing law school, a couple of tips come to my mind that seem sooo obvious in hindsight. If I had followed my own advice about this earlier in my law school life I would have saved myself a whole lot of grief.

1.) Don’t get Emotional — try not to let your emotions get in the way of the things you have to do in law school, like studying, groupwork or graded recitations.

One of my classmates couldn’t focus on studying properly because she would start crying in despair over the heavy workload, while another classmate almost burst out in tears from the snide comments of one demanding law professor during recitation.

You can’t help your emotions, but it does help if you try to control those emotions. Most lawyers are seen as cold, and sometimes heartless. I guess it’s from controlling your emotions so often. It’s necessary to survive law school.

2.) Don’t do too much — realize that there is only one of you, and a person can only do so much. There are limits to what a person can possibly do. Figure out your limits and try not to do too much.

One classmate of mine was the student council vice president, head of several organizations, and group leaders in nearly all her groupwork. It’s a wonder she managed to get through law school in one piece.

I made the same mistake of trying to do too much. At one point, I was a member of the law journal, a debater and treasurer of the debate society, a columnist for a newspaper and commercial law barops understudy.

This was on top of being a boyfriend to my dreamgirl (now wife) and a law student. That was a very stressful year. If I could do it again, I would have dropped some of the other things on my plate.

3.) Get emotional support – The primary reason I survived law school is that I always had my dreamgirl to turn to when things got too hard. I could vent with her, talk to her, and go out and have some fun before facing the daily grind of law school life.

Aside from my dreamgirl, I have my college buddies, whom I affectionately call “The Boys.” We go out drinking every so often whenever I need an outlet for my law school frustrations.

And then there’s my family. My mom in particular would text or call me to see how I was doing. Their support made all the difference in getting through law school.

4.) Don’t take things too seriously. – try to take things in stride. Don’t let small things or issues become big issues. Often the smallest snub or the slightest remark can lead to conflagrations in law school, whether between fraternities or friends or even student and teachers. That’s what being in a stress-packed environment can do to you and your nerves.

5.) Focus on your studies – you sometimes hear that school is not just academics and that the things you learn in extracurricular activities are just as important as what you learn in the classroom. Unfortunately, I don’t think the same is true for law school.

Upon graduation, the people who get hired immediately were those with high grades, or the honor students, or those with academic awards.

Those who are very active in activities may have a higher profile, but they don’t always get job offers immediately. They still have to look for work and apply. I was lucky. I wasn’t the smartest of students, but I did work hard during my internships and also got a Best Thesis (Silver Medal) award. This definitely helped in getting me a few job invites (whether or not I take those jobs is a different thing entirely of course).

But the general rule remains: academics are what count in law school. Your grades are the measure of whether you will be a good lawyer. Everything else is secondary.

Where To Work: Government or Law Firm?

I’m at that point in my life that I have to decide where to work, what field to go into, and whom to work for.

I hadn’t actually planned on dealing with these questions for a while. However, I have a number of “job offers” which require categorical answers of either yes or no soon, if just for politeness or propriety’s sake.

There are basically 2 options on the table: work for the government (i.e. public office) or work for a law firm.

Both options have their advantages and disadvantages.

Government work means a relatively manageable workload, a little less work pressure than law firm work (although the amount of pressure would depend on which government agency or person you work for), reasonable hours, and a certain amount of prestige depending on the office you work in.

Government work can also offer more educational opportunities either abroad or in the country, such as scholarships or educational grants. One friend of mine just came from a study-tour of Japan to observe that country’s legal system. That study-tour was open only to government workers and was not available for the private sector.

The disadvantage of government work however is that you don’t gain the killer edge that law firms seem to hand out to new lawyers. Since government work has stable working hours and is relatively simple, it is easy to get complacent if your own ambition doesn’t push you forward.

You also have a much lower salary than anyone lawyering in the private sector would get. You also have to deal with a stagnated bureaucracy, hurdle redtape and suffer rules which can sometimes stifle creativity. Government is often the last place that encourages creativity (as a general rule).

Law firm work on the other hand, is often a pressure filled timebomb, especially for the first few years as an associate. As the lowest man on the totem pole in a firm, nearly all the grunt work will be piled on the newbie lawyer or underbar (someone who is waiting for the Bar results).

This means very long hours and very stressed out lawyers.

Law firm work can be rewarding though. It offers more opportunities to gain knowledge and experience in the legal profession. You tend to learn more and do more.

But the biggest and most obvious upside of law firm work is the money.

Like in the movie Jerry Maguire, most new lawyers would say “show me the money,” and work for the firm which offers the highest salary and the best benefits.

I know a number of lawyers who have dealt with similar dilemmas, and they have all dealt with it differently.

Atty. Kris Ablan, for example, worked in both the public and private sector. He did stints in the Office of the Solicitor- General (OSG) and at a law firm before running for public office and winning a seat in his Province’s Provincial Board.

Atty. Ronald Chua received job offers from several large law firms, but turned them down to work in the Office of the Ombudsman. He also teaches in the Ateneo School of Law now.

Different strokes for different folks, as the cliché goes.

I still haven’t decided where I will ultimately go. But whatever decision I make, it will be made together with my dreamgirl. After all, I have chosen to balance both career and love (or at least try!).

And I really wouldn’t have it any other way.

How I Knew I Wanted to be a Lawyer

I didn’t.

Don’t get me wrong. When I was in high school I thought I was fit to be a lawyer and was even asked by a number of my classmates caught smoking cigarettes and who were about to be kicked off the basketball team if I could I find a way to get them out of the punishment.

I read through the student manual, and found that there was no such punishment as kicking off the basketball team.

I told them this, and although I thought it was sound advice and was prepared to argue that, they thought that they didn’t want to continue the “appeal” because their parents would get mad.

Although I didn’t quite succeed, I remember that I was thrilled going over the rulebook and manual and finding that particular loophole. It was lawyerly kind of stuff.

And even my high school prediction (there is a program during our prom where we mention the predictions we have for each student), people thought I would be a lawyer.

So in a way it was predestined. And in college I took legal management because I thought I would go on to law school. But by the third year of college I had gotten a bit disillusioned because I went to court a few times and it didn’t work out too well. I had found the system horrible.

So I went into education instead (it was too late to switch majors, I just concentrated all my electives in my third year to teaching) and went to Ateneo Grade School to teach.

I thought that was my true calling in life. And for a few years, as I switched between Beijing, Manila and wherever, teaching all the time, I was happy.

Then some personal stuff happened and my life plan was pretty much ruined at that point. But I remember talking to a friend from Indonesia about the law in the Philippines and saying it was so problematic, and how it doesn’t change. He told me that perhaps the best way to change the law and system is to change it from within. That never left me.

So one day while stuck in Manila and doing nothing (remember my world had seemed to crash at that point) I just took the Ateneo Law entrance exam.

I passed it. Prayed about it. And then realized that perhaps that was why God meant for me to pass the entrance exam. ( I had done NO preparation for it and had taken it on a whim, and didn’t take any other entrance exam). I was meant to be a lawyer. And so I on went to law school.

So in a way it was a confluence of many things that made me go to law school. A feeling of fate and faith. A feeling that God had prepared each moment of my life for this (I would not have survived law school if I had gone on to it straight out of college. No discipline and none of the skills yet like writing etc).

I don’t recommend what I did, because it was very haphazard. Law school is very demanding and is something that one should seriously think about before jumping in. I went into it unsure, but by the first year grew to love the work and the pressure, the feeling of changing the world through the law.

Admittedly that feeling has waned somewhat since I have to split much of my time between law and my dreamgirl, and my dreamgirl obviously winds up winning in the battle for time.

But I cant imagine doing anything else with my life now. Except being a lawyer.

A Typical Day in Law School

I once had a friend ask me what a typical day in law school is like. Here’s a quick overview of one of my typical days (I picked a Wednesday), back when I was writing a column and juggling law school. The times may vary a bit but more or less this is how it went during the early parts of this semester.

Please note though that I am not the kind of person one would call studious. And I am no genius (oh how I wish I was!),but I do get by in school.

Wednesday
6:30 am — Wake up, get ready to head to school. Grab a quick bite if there is anything in the fridge.

7:30 am — Drive to law school.

8:30 am – Arrive at law school and find a spot to study (usually at the second floor of the Ateneo Professional Schools building).

11:00 am – Lunch with some of my studymates. If it’s a really heavy day I just grab a quick burger and coke and keep studying at my desk and wolf down the food.

11:30 am – back to studying.

1:45 pm – 15 minutes before class starts. This is around the time my classmates and I start panicking. Some of us start praying. Others just say “what will be, will be” and stop studying.

2:00 pm – Class time (Commercial Law Review). 2 hours of demanding recitations and inquisitions from our professor who was a former Bar Examiner.

4:00 pm – Class ends. One hour break before my next class. Sometimes I have meetings for group projects. Other times I have to meet a professor or research something in the library. This one hour can go really fast with all the stuff that has to be done.

5:00 pm – Civil Law Review Class. One hour of fast-paced recitations under a Professor considered an expert on the Civil Code. (He wrote 2 books: one on the Family Code and another on the Law on Obligations and Contracts).

6:00 pm – Class ends. Finally manage to breathe (Presuming I didn’t get called for recitation in any of my subjects.) Start heading home.

7:00 pm- Arrive home. Eat dinner and rest up.

8:00 pm – Reviewing for the next day’s class (Remedial Law).

9:30 pm – Call dreamgirl or receive a call from my dreamgirl. Catch up with each other. Can be anywhere from 30 minute chat to an hour long conversation. 30 minutes is the average.

10:00—11:00 pm – Start researching and looking through the news for a topic to write on for the weekly opinion column (for the Sunstar Davao).

11:00 pm – Write the column. Takes about an hour or so.

Midnight – Email column to Sunstar Davao editors.

Anywhere from 12:30 am to 1 am – Get ready to sleep. Read book, write in journal, or blog. Sometimes I watch tv and just veg out.

Asleep by 1 a.m. or so.

Note: Usually if something else comes up, I skip reviewing for the night or skip writing the column. Nothing fancy. On other days if I don’t wake up on time, I review in the house instead and just get to school right before classes start.

And yes this is a relatively light day. Some of my classmates have much heavier schedules because they have work or kids or are in dozens of clubs or something like that. Others just study all the time, every spare moment.

Each person’s schedule is different, but more or less one thing is the same for all of us. We all study.

Yes I know. Law students live pathetic lives.

Addendum: Blogger Michael Henreckson brought up the fact that I didn’t mention coffee in this post. He has a good point.

I forgot to mention coffee since it seemed like such a normal part of my day already. Nearly all my classmates have a cup a day as well. But yeah, Michael is right, coffee and caffeine is key to getting through a typical law school day.

Singapore Lawyer Runs off to the Philippines

Singapore Lawyer Runs off to the Philippines

A Singaporean lawyer, Zulkifli Amin who has been missing since November 2007, ran off to the Philippines to escape possible criminal charges. Here’s the kicker – he billed the plane ticket to his law firm.

So he not only got away, he charged someone else to do so too. Talk about adding insult to injury.

According to the Strait Times, Zulkifli is under investigation for $6 million Singaporean dollars that went missing. A lawyer for seven years, Zulkifli is a partner in the Sadique, Marican and ZM Amin law firm. He was in charge of the conveyance and real estate department.

According to K.C. Vijayan, the Law Correspondent of the Strait Times, the runaway lawyer may have taken on “more work than he could handle.” Some of the transactions incurred financial penalties for delays. A number of these penalties were quite severe and allegedly caused Zulkifli to dip into other accounts he handled in order to pay off the surcharges.

This is illegal, and when other penalties started adding up, the whole thing “may
have snowballed,” according to the Times.

The interesting thing about this news report is Zulkifli’s choice of country. I am surprised Zulkifli picked the Philippines. Our country is not exactly the kind of place one would pick as a safe haven for criminals (unless you count the alleged training grounds for terrorists in the South, but even then Mr. Zulkifli isn’t exactly a terrorist).

Granted, the borders of the Philippines are porous; getting in and out of the country has never been particularly hard, and there are a number of Filipino fugitives who remain hidden to this day, such as COMELEC officer Lintang Bedol.

But I would have thought Zulkifli would have run off to some place like the Cayman Islands, or to Switzerland to escape the law, as traditionally seen in movies and novels.

As of this writing, I don’t know if the Singaporean government has contacted the Philippine one to investigate or apprehend Zulkifli. I do hope the Philippines does catch him though, if he is still in the country.

Otherwise, this rogue lawyer may not only give lawyers a bad name, he may also wind up giving our country a new reputation: as a hideout for criminals.

And no Filipino wants that. Ever.

Lunch With A Valedictorian

She smiles at me as I slide into the seat in front of her. She shifts in her seat, adjusts the table and prepares to dig into the rice and beef stew from the cafeteria.

Though she’s dressed in a power suit, one wouldn’t think she was a valedictorian. One wouldn’t have thought there was anything extraordinary about her, except perhaps for that pretty and very friendly smile on her face.

Her name is Patricia Ngo Chua. People call her Tracy. And she is the Class Valedictorian for the Ateneo School of Law, Batch 2007.

Nothing special? Please.

Not only was she class valedictorian, but she also got best thesis, was a member of the Ateneo Law Journal and part of the Jessup Team representing the Philippines in 2005. She also received the St. Thomas More award, which is the highest award given to an Ateneo Law graduate. I’d say she was something special, yes sir.

I ask her about all her achievements, and she shrugs, as if to say it wasn’t much. She seems a bit shy to answer questions about all her accomplishments in law school. She takes another bite of her food, as though trying to change the topic.

Trillanes Takes Over The Peninsula

Trillanes Takes Over the Peninsula

Here we go again.

The right honorable Senator Trillanes is showing us how much he respects the rule of law in our country by walking out of the courtroom where his case was being heard by Judge Oscar Pimentel. He is now holed up in the Peninsula Hotel over in Makati.

Pundits are calling this another coup attempt, like the Oakwood Mutiny fiasco a few years ago. Which, by the way, was led and masterminded by the SAME guy. Good old Trillanes. Except back then, he didn’t have the Senator tag on him yet.

I respect our leaders. The people voted for him and made him Senator. I disagreed greatly with him being voted into power because I believed that he had no qualifications to be Senator, aside from being a would-be coup leader. But he won, and that was that.

So far his performance as Senator has been less than exemplary though. Since being voted into power, he has used his position to call for countless hearings against the government, virtually blamed the administration for the explosion at Glorietta as part of some sort of conspiracy (where he cited confidential sources which, to date, he has refused to name), and now he has tried another coup attempt of sorts.

Saguisag in Hospital

One of the best lawyers in the country is once again in the news, and this time it’s not because of his client Joseph Estrada. Estrada counsel and former Senator Rene Saguisag is in the hospital because of a traffic accident  on Osmena Highway (South Super Highway) when a dump truck crashed into his van, killing his wife Dulce and putting him into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Having driven along that same highway myself, I know for a fact how dangerous Osmena Highway can be, with often reckless trucks and buses careening wildly as though they owned the road. The road itself is not well-lit, and pedestrians in that area run around and cross the highway seemingly at will. Then there are the  numerous crimes that occur on that highway, thefts, robberies and even carnappings. There are countless horror stories about Osmena Highway. We now have one more.

I can only imagine how much pain Atty. Saguisag is in right now, both physically and emotionally. Though the doctors have already said he was in stable condition, he still remains under observation as of this writing. I do not think he really knows his wife is dead though, since according to the reports he is still in ICU, but the physical pain must be immeasurable and the emotional pain may even be worse once he realizes what he has lost.

With one accident, he has lost the love of his life and constant companion. He almost lost his own life. This is a fate I do not wish on anyone, not even my worst enemies.

Let us all pray for Atty. Saguisag’s recovery.

In the meantime, we have to do something about Osmena Highway. It’s an accident prone area which is just begging for rehabilitation. More lights would help. More rules and better enforcement would help. ANYTHING, at this point, would help. God knows, it’s  already too late to help Dulce. But it may not be too late for others travelling on Osmena Highway.

Blog Action Day: A Quick Look at International Environmental Law

Blog Action Day: A Quick Look at International Environmental Law

It is not a coincidence that many of the world’s leaders now worry about the environment. For years, scientists have been trying to tell the world that the environment is in danger. Few have listened. But that has, thankfully, begun to change. You have celebrities like Al Gore promoting his movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” and Leo Dicaprio with his “11th Hour.” You have hybrid cars that attempt to do less damage to the environment. You have groups trying to help save the environment such as Greenpeace, World Wildlife Federation, to name a few.

Even the law has taken notice of the pains of the environment. There has been great interest in environmental laws and the necessary systems to enforce them, both in the international realm and in domestic jurisdictions.

So You Want To Go To Law School?

So You Want to Go to Law School?

(Babble On for the Sunstar Davao, October 12, 2007)

It’s that time of the year when a lot of graduating college students think about going to law school. Since you are reading this article, you are probably one of the brave few considering the law school option.

Now here’s the thing: law school isn’t easy. It’s a lot of hard work and pain. A lot of sleepless nights and mental anguish. Law school is unlike anything you have ever experienced, unlike anything you could even imagine. Law school requires you to dedicate everything you have to it: your mind, your body and even your soul.

If I haven’t scared you off yet, good. That means you may be the kind of person able to survive law school. Just to make sure however, here are a couple of questions you should ask yourself before you enroll:

1.) Do you really want to be a lawyer?
You have to want to be a lawyer more than anything in the world. And you have to want it for yourself, not for your mom or dad or to look good for your girlfriend. Yourself. Because when you are neck-deep in cases that threaten to overwhelm you, or when a professor is shouting and demanding answers from you, or when you are drafting a pleading at 5 am in the morning, there is no one else who can pick you up and make you go on, except yourself.

What I Learned from Erap’s Life

What I Learned from Erap’s Life

(Babble On, for the Sunstar Davao, Sept. 14, 2007)

The decision is out and Erap has been declared guilty of plunder by the Sandiganbayan. Looking at his life, one can’t help but wonder at how quickly Erap rose to power, and how quickly he fell. His story is definitely one for the history books. From becoming President via the largest landslide election margin in history, he became a criminal sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.

So what are the lessons one can learn from his story?

1.) Choose Your Friends Wisely – Erap was said to have a group of friends that were always around during the good times. The so-called “Midnight Cabinet” would stay up at the Presidential Palace with him till the wee hours of the morning, drinking and carousing. These friends took advantage of Erap’s position of power through countless anomalous transactions. These were the people Erap thought would be with him through thick and thin. But where are they now? Few of the “Midnight Cabinet” remain loyal, and almost none of them were by his side when he was declared guilty. In fact, some members of this “cabinet” were the reason for his downfall! It is in the difficult moments in one’s life that one learns who his true friends are. Erap has just learned who his true friends are, and none of the Midnight Cabinet is included among them.

Legal Tidbits

Legal Tidbits

(Babble On, Published in the Sunstar Davao, November 12, 2004. Republished by Weddings at Work)

Over the course of my studies, I picked up a few bits of legal information that I find rather interesting. I thought I would share it with the readers of Sunstar. Hopefully this will help make the law be a little less intimidating. After all, the law is designed to be for the greater good of people. The law’s purpose is to help, not complicate matters.

***

Did you know that your middle name is not actually your mothers surname? Common usage and vast amounts of paperwork, where there is a request for your middle initial, have made people think that the middle name is, well, your mom’s maiden name (for example Kelvin Lester KING Lee). However, Article 375 of the Civil Code provides that, in case descendents and ascendants have identical names and surnames, the word junior can only be used by a son. Grandsons and other direct male descendants can instead add a middle name or the mother’s surname.

That passage means that the law has, indirectly differentiated between the middle name and the mother’s surname. As a result, your middle name would actually be your SECOND name. (Kelvin LESTER King Lee), and NOT your mother’s surname, as provided for by law.

So basically all those forms you have been filling out since time immemorial that required your “middle initial” or your “middle name” in the space where you are supposed to put your mother’s surname, are wrong!

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.