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BUSINESS
Interest in the law profession is increasing even more with the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona resembling a “reality TV” show with both sides, as well as the senator-judges, discussing the complexities of Philippine law. Close to 6,000 hopefuls took the 2011 Bar exams last November, with 31.95 percent or 1,913 managing to hurdle the examinations. The figures are much higher than the 982 passers during the 2010 Bar exams out of a total of 4,874 examinees. say the 31.95 percent passing rate is the second highest in the Philippine law profession’s history with the highest percentage recorded in 2001 with 32.89 percent. Interestingly, there were only 13 examinees during the first ever Bar exams held in 1901. An informal survey among law students revealed an almost 50-50 “verdict” – with half of the respondents saying they believe Corona should be acquitted because he is not guilty, while an equal number say they want to see the Chief Justice convicted for culpable violation of the Constitution. However, all the respondents or 100 percent agreed that the impeachment process should continue all the way to its completion regardless of the outcome. They also said that so far, the proceedings appear to be credible, with most of the credit going to Senate President and impeachment court presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile who is perceived to be fair and unbiased, basing his decisions on what is considered relevant (or not) in deciding the culpability or innocence of Chief Justice Corona. A number of senator-judges also perceived to be impartial are Jinggoy Estrada with a number of law students saying they approve of the young lawmaker’s “get-on-with-it” attitude, wanting to cut through long winding preliminaries and sticking to the main issues. The Cayetano siblings Pia and Alan Peter were also among those who have managed to get the attention of spectators, in particular Alan Peter with his incisive questioning coupled with a “coolness factor.” In any case, whichever way the verdict goes – whether it will be an acquittal or a conviction – the real and credible winners will be those who have maintained their credibility and objectivity all throughout the impeachment process. After all, Filipinos have become more aware and discerning, able to tell who are just trying to ingratiate themselves with Malacañang. Italian lawyers on strike The law profession is perceived to be very lucrative, with lawyers (especially in the Philippines) believed to be among the highest paid largely due to hefty fees charged to clients. Which is why it is rather surprising to hear about lawyers in Italy having gone on strike, demanding more pay and better working conditions. Unlike the rowdiness that usually marks protest activities, the lawyers’ strike was described as resembling a garden party, with the protesters garbed in colorful robes, waving red-white-and-green Italian flags and holding balloons, many of them taping up their lips to emphasize silent indignation over their plight. There are 230,000 lawyers out of the 60 million Italian population, in contrast with only 54,000 lawyers for France with a higher population estimated at almost 65 million. However, almost 50 percent of the “avvocati” (plural of avvocato, Italian for lawyer) say they do not have job security and are underpaid, expressing disagreement with the government’s reform initiatives for the law profession, which include the abolition of “minimum fees.” The lawyers are up in arms over plans to fast-track conciliation procedures for minor civil litigation which government claims will reduce legal fees (and might not even require the services of lawyers) for litigants. Other deregulation measures proposed by the Italian government include shortening probation periods for new law graduates and allowing businessmen to acquire majority shares in legal practices – something that legal practitioners say could raise conflict of interest issues. Just like the Philippines, the Italian justice system has also been criticized for being snail paced, with civil cases taking as long as eight years while criminal cases are settled in five years – if the is lucky. Italian courts are estimated to have a backlog of nine million cases, most of them civil. The law profession in Italy has the biggest representation in Parliament and therefore exerts considerable lobbying and political clout, but critics laud the government’s reform measures, saying lawyers have long been pampered and privileged. x x x." | ||||
