CANON 9: A LAWYER SHALL NOT, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, ASSIST IN THE

UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW.

The act of pretending or assuming to be an attorney or an officer of the court

and acting as such without authority is punishable with contempt of court.
The lawyer who assists in an unauthorized practice of law whether directly or
indirectly is subject to disciplinary action.
-Rule 71, sec.3 (e), Revised Rules of Court

Rule 9.01 A lawyer shall not delegate to any unqualified person the
performance of any task which by law may only be performed by a
member of the Bar in good standing.
A lawyer is prohibited from taking as partner or associate any person who is not
authorized to practice law to appear in court or to sign pleadings. A lawyer, who is
under suspension from practice of law, is not a member of the Bar in good standing.
A lawyer whose authority to practice has been withdrawn due to a change in
citizenship or allegiance to the country cannot appear before the courts.
- Guballa vs. Caguioa, 78 SCRA 302
Who are qualified?:

A lawyer can employ lay secretaries, lay investigators, lay detectives, lay
researchers, accountants or non-lawyer draftsmen, to undertake any task not
involving practice of law. He may also avail himself of the assistance of law
students in many of the fields of the lawyers work, such as the examination
of a case law, finding and interviewing witness, examining court records,
delivering papers, and similar matters.
-Comments of IBP Committee, pp. 47-48

Rule 9.02. A lawyer shall not divide or stipulate a fee for legal service
with persons not licensed to practice law, except:
a. where there is a pre-existing agreement with the partner or associate
that, upon the latters death, money shall be paid over a reasonable
period of time to his estate or to persons specified in the agreement; or
b. where a lawyer undertakes to complete unfinished legal business of a
deceased lawyer; or

c. where the lawyer or law firm includes non-lawyer employees in a

retirement plan, even if the plan is based in whole as in part, on a profitsharing arrangement.

Article 222 of the Labor Code, as amended by P.D. No. 1691, provides
that non-lawyers may appear before the NLRC or labor arbiters (1) if they
represent themselves, or (2) if they represent their organization or its
members. However, as ruled in Five J Taxi v. NLRC, they may not receive
attorneys fees. As a non-lawyer, Pulia is not entitled to attorneys fees even
though he is the authorized representative of the respondents to the NLRC.
The Court explained: The statutory rule that an attorney shall be entitled to
have and recover from his client a reasonable compensation for his services
necessarily imports the existence of an attorney-client relationship as a
condition for the recovery of attorneys fees and such relationship cannot
exist unless the clients representative is a lawyer.
Likewise, in Amalgamated Laborers Assn. v. CIR, the Court ruled that the
union president, who is not a lawyer, cannot share in the attorneys fees.

CASES & LAWS:

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Rule 71, sec.3 (e), Revised Rules of Court

Guballa vs. Caguioa, 78 SCRA 302, July 29, 1977
Comments of IBP Committee, pp. 47-48
Article 222 of the Labor Code, as amended by P.D. No. 1691
Five J Taxi v. NLRC, G.R. No. 111474, August 22, 1994
Amalgamated Laborers Assn. v. CIR, G.R. No. L-23467, March 27,
1968