You have taken this course with an ultimate goal of pursuing a Law Degree.

After reading the basic concepts of the Legal

Profession, reflect on how you can become a better lawyer in the future.

My very premise on how to become a better lawyer is to have an appropriate vision and goals. This layouts the
basis for the other mandates, characteristics, and morals to come in. If the good intention of becoming a lawyer is
innate and is not influence by other factors such as financial aspiration, coercion, or among others, then good moral
character is guaranteed. For me, becoming the better lawyer means being consistent from your moral character. The
moral standard from which you base yourself on must not be temporary or intentional, rather, it must be genuinely
emanating from your heart and is consistent even under pressure or in front of setbacks and legal adversaries.

Next is being professional. Clients will lean on to you when they feel defenseless. You should be a wise,
strategic, and keen lawyer so that you can deliver justice gracefully and effectively. You should always feed yourself with
education coming from legal experiences and must always exercise your duties at the fullest with bravery, intelligence,
and honesty. With regards to this, being truthful is a key element in being truthful. Now a days, the justice is not duly
given to people because evidences are planted fraudulently, witnesses are either paid to utter false information or
coerced not to reveal itself from the proceeding, and documents are tampered intentionally. To become a good lawyer,
one must not betray the public trust, one must not provide misleading documents to the judges, and most importantly a
lawyer must not be a victim of misinformation. In relation to this, it is also a must for a good lawyer to respect the
confidence of his/her client and the confidence of any legal properties that was revealed to him/her. If a document is
urged confident, lawyer must not disclose it to anyone even though its disclosure means beneficial to oneself. Personal
interest or the selfish interest to win the case must be set aside. Because in seeking justice, we don’t directly try to prove
who is guilty but rather, we try to reveal what is the truth. Furthermore, lawyer must remain inclusive: should be just
and fair. A lawyer must not deny or delay a client from his/her need for legal counsel or legal advice. He/she should keep
inclusivity at the heights of personal preferences and equip just and fairness when practicing the law.

The next component in becoming a better lawyer is to obey the law. The law is existensial to draw boundaries
and to define what lawyers can and cannot do so the lawyer must at all time base his/her acts on the mandates of the
law. He/she should always put public interest at the forefront of succeeding legal steps and not his/her personal
interest. Like public officials, one must remain loyal and truthful to the Republic of the Philippines. Such lawyers must
emulate what law expects them to emulate like the Norms and Conducts of Public Official (RA 6713). In connection to
this, the law requires every lawyer to not treat the practice of law as business. A good lawyer shall recognize the
practice of law as a dignified bridge in attaining justice and is not a mere business career. One must not receive
monetary or material gift directly from the clients or practice law because of monetary or material reward. One must
not initiate a negotiation with a prospect client but rather, let the client voluntarily consult to you. A good lawyer must
have an innate passion, and a clear and appropriate vision and goals that is beyond the need for money. Moreover, the
law requires every lawyer to be against the conduct of moral turpitude and immorality. Which simply means that one
should not engage, organize, participate, or protect any acts that cripple the sanctity of justice and the mandates of the
law. One must not aspire to destroy the reputation of justice in the country by not engaging to any of the following acts:
Estafa, bribery, murder, seduction, abduction, smuggling, and falsification of public documents.

The last component is to have a wide horizon of what it means to become a lawyer, what development can you
influence in sustaining a healthy justice system, and how you think in general. It means that don’t be neutral in the face
of good and bad because morality is a zero-sum game. One is genuinely right and one is genuinely wrong thus, a lawyer
must and should classify which is right and wrong and must not be indifferent and play ignorant. One is gifted from
rationality, and one has moral character. With the years of education from kindergarten to graduate school, all the
difficult qualifications and exams that student-lawyers has to go true, and with the experiences from on-the-job training
to an actual legal firm, one must have already sufficiently gathered necessary lessons that could broaden his/her
horizon. And if a lawyer equips with him/her a wide horizon, then he/she can impart an essential change to legal
system development. A lawyer must not only keep for himself the gift of intellect, morality, and rationality but he/she
should also influence colleagues to become one. By participating to key events and program that can nurture the growth
of legal system, then surely, development takes place and thus bring that lawyer into status not only better than the
other but the – best lawyer.