Aldrin Rivera Loyola February 15, 2020

Practice Court II
5th Year
MSU-College of Law – Iligan Extension

Reflection on the Lawyer’s Oath

In his book The Punishment of the Gods, Jake Yaniak said: “No one, by

swearing, makes themselves an ounce more honest; any more than a man makes

himself wealthy by counting his gold. Oaths may make a liar a liar yet again,

having lied about the oath as well. But it cannot alter the worth of an honest man's

word.” As simple and yet profound as Yaniak’s words are, the Lawyer’s Oath is a

vow of the same caliber of simplicity and profoundness. It is not a proverbial

pledge uttered almost as if it is an elderly’s litany. Neither is it an empty promise

most people swore in the direst of needs, only to be forgotten in the height of gain

and broken during the hardest of falls. What a Lawyer’s Oath is and should be – it

is an appeal, in the stricter sense, to the Highest Court of the land, to sanction for

the truth of an affirmation or declaration and calling upon the Almighty Creator to

bear witness of the inviolability of the promise made.

No lawyer may go out into the public without conviction in his mind to

always be a beacon for truth and justice. After all, lawyers as professionals are

placed at the top echelon of society. It is only just and right that such a high
privilege comes with it a greater burden of responsibility. For when a lawyer does

falsehood than seek the truth, falsely accuse than protect the weak, chase gold

rather than serve justice, society itself crumbles. Others fell to immorality, both in

the vices of the wealth and the flesh, and now unbecoming of the title they possess.

Because with malice and infidelity on his part, no person will every gain his trust.

As a result, no faith will be given to the courts and soon enough the abode of

justice itself will be defamed as a dwelling place of liars, criminals and thieves. It

will be a man for himself. Chaos descends.

Seemingly apocalyptic as it may sound, this fear is felt real these days.

Lawyers are branded as professional pocket-sizers and opportunistic lads. What

was once a profession of the highest order is now stained in filth. This must come

to a change. There is a dire need to revisit the Lawyer’s Oath and relive its words.

It is true, law and procedure are a matter of memory and cognition. It can be

learned when the lawyer forgets it. He has all the books he needs to remaster his

rusted art. He may polish it again. But the ethics of a lawyer is a matter of the

heart. He may never truly live up to what he swore during the day he was declared

a lawyer unless he makes a life-turning event of making good to the Oath he has

sworn to.