CPR Annotated, Phil JA

EFFECT OF CONCEALED CRIME

1. If the concealed crime is discovered before the candidate could take the bar
exam, he will be denied permission to take the exam.
2. If discovered after he passed the bar exam, but before having been taken his
oath, he will not be allowed to take his oath as a lawyer.
3. If discovered after he had taken his oath as a lawyer, his name will be
stricken from the Roll of Attorneys.

Concealment of an attorney in his application to take the bar exams of the fact that
he had been charged with or indicted for an alleged crime is ground for revocation
of his license to practice law.
It is the fact of concealment and not the commission of the crime itself that makes
him morally unfit to become a lawyer. When he made the concealment he
perpetrated perjury
I

Rule 7.3 A lawyer shall not engage in a conduct that adversely reflects on his
fitness to practice law, nor shall he, whether in public or private life, behave in a
scandalous manner to the discredit of the legal profession.

WHAT CONSTITUTES FITNESS TO PRACTICE LAW?

It is not to be determined only by the specific qualifications for admission into
the bar but encompasses practically all aspects of a lawyers public or private life
that could actually or potentially tarnish the integrity and dignity of the legal
profession.
He should endeavor to conduct himself in such a way as to give credit to the
legal profession and to inspire the confidence, respect, and trust of his clients and
community.
Acts which adversely reflect on a lawyers fitness to practice law, which justify
suspension:
1. Gross immorality.
2. Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude.
3. Fraudulent transactions
Gross Immorality reflective of unfitness to practice law.
- Acts of personal immorality in his private relation with the opposite sex.
- Gross immorality of the act, not merely immorality, to justify suspension or
disbarment
- Grossly Immoral Act:

1. One that is so corrupt and false as to constitute a criminal act.

2. Unprincipled or disgraceful as to be reprehensible to a high degree.
Acts of gross immorality, justifying denial of application to take the lawyers
oath or suspension or disbarment:
1. Living an adulterous life with a married woman.
2. Maintaining illicit relations with a niece.
3. Abandonment of his lawful wife to live with another woman.
4. Contracting marriage while first marriage is still subsisting.
5. Seducing a woman to have carnal knowledge with her on the basis of
misrepresentation that he is going to marry her, that he is single, or
that they are already married upon signing a mere application for
marriage license.
6. Carnal knowledge with a student by taking advantage of his position

However mere intimacy between a man and a woman either of whom

possess no legal impediment to marry, voluntarily carried on and devoid of any
deceit on the part of the lawyer, is not corrupt or unprincipled to warrant
disciplinary action as member of the bar. Even if the relationship results in the
woman giving birth to a child so long as he admits paternity and agrees to support
the child.
Cohabitation per se is not grossly immoral. Whether a lawyers sexual
congress with a woman not his wife should be characterized as grossly immoral will
depend upon the surrounding circumstances.
Even if the evidence is not sufficient to hold a lawyer liable for gross
immorality, may nonetheless be reprimanded where such evidence shows failure on
his part to comply with the rigorous standards of conduct.

Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude

-

Moral turpitude:
Anything which is done contrary to justice. Honesty, modesty, or good
morals.
Any act of vileness, baseness, or depravity in the private and social
duties a man owed his fellowmen or to society, contrary to the
accepted rule of right and duty between man and woman.
All crimes which fraud or deceit is an element.
Lawyers convicted of such crime are either suspended or disbarred.

Commission of fraud or falsehood

-

he may be administratively disciplined.

Acts of misconduct calling for disciplinary actions:
1. Falsely stating in a deed of sale that the property is free from liens or
encumbrances.
2. Knowingly taking part in a false and simulated transaction.

3. Making it appear that a vendor, long dead, executed a document of sale in

his favor.
4. Concealing in an information sheet required by law in connection with his
employment the fact that he was charged with or convicted of a crime.
5. Borrowing money as a guardian for his benefit upon the wards property
as collateral without the courts approval.
6. Encashing a check payable to his deceased cousin by signing the latters
name.
7. Falsifying a power of attorney ad using it to collect money due the
principal and converting it to his benefit.
8. Misappropriating money belonging to his employer.
PRIVILAGES OF A LAWYER:
1. Privilege and right practice law during good behavior before any judicial,
quasi-judicial, or administrative tribunal.
2. Enjoys the presumption of regularity in the discharge of his duty.
- His statements, if relevant or material to the case, are absolutely
privileged regardless of their defamatory tenor. He can speak freely and
courageously in proceedings without the risk of criminal prosecution
3. Other privileges inherent in his status are quasi-judicial offer:
- Passing the bar is equivalent to 1st grade Civil Service eligibility for any
position in the classified service of the government, the duties of which
require knowledge of law.
- 2nd grade eligibility for any government position not requiring the
proficiency in law.
4. The court, in admitting him to practice, presents him to the public as worthy
of its confidence and as a person fit and proper to assume and discharge the
responsibilities of an attorney.
5. Privilege to set the judicial machinery in motion:
- He can stand up for his right or the right of his client even in the face of a
hostile court.
- He has the right to protest, in respectful language, any unwarranted
treatment of a witness or any unjustified delay.
- The rights and privileges which they enjoy as officers of the court are
necessary for the proper administration of justice as for the protection of
attorney and his client.
- As a man of law, he is necessarily a leader in the community, looked up to
as a model citizen.
- Integrity, ability and learning often makes his qualified to administer the
executive departments of the legislative bodies.