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Monday, April 29, 2013

Watch List Order

A Watch List Order may be issued under any of the following instances:

  1. Against the accused for criminal cases pending before the Regional Trial Court;
  2. Against the accused for criminal cases pending preliminary investigation, petition for review, or motion for reconsideration before the Department of Justice or any of its provincial or city prosecution offices;
  3. Against any person, upon the request of any government entity, pursuant to the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2003.
A Watch List Order is valid for sixty (60) days from the date of its issuance, unless sooner. It may also be extended. While the WLO is in effect, the subject person may not be allowed to leave the country. A Watch List Order is renewable for another 60 days.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

949 New Lawyers Took Oath at PICC

April 24, 2013, the passers of the 2012 bar examinations took their oath, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

The first lady Chief Justice of the Philippines, Ma. Lourdes Sereno, addressed the successful barristers and encouraged them to reverse the negative public view of lawyers. An excerpt of CJ Sereno's speech is quoted below:

"Do not be discouraged by the fact that system changes need time to design, to start, to take root, to monitor and refine before anyone can claim success. Do not let the slowness of change in the system delay your own individual ways of holding yourselves accountable to your oath of office. Remember that once you take the crooked path, its slippery snares will make it difficult for you to go back to the right one. So, do not ever take the first step to commit an unethical, immoral or illegal conduct. Stand your ground and do what is right - for your sake, for the sake of your batch mates, and for the sake of your generation and future generations. 
"On my part, I am here, together with my colleagues, to always encourage you, guide you with whatever measure we can provide and demonstrate to you by our own individual lives the meaning of courage and integrity. We will create systems by which you can reach out to us in the Supreme Court and we in turn can reach out to you. We need mutual encouragement in the path to do good, to build our country, and redeem our profession from the ugly caricature of lawyers that our fellowmen have drawn."
CJ Sereno encouraged the new lawyers to act with nobility and accountability. She further stressed that the legal profession keep to its code of ethics and that though the Supreme Court is the leader for change, the body needs the whole legal profession to support it.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

How to Decide if College is Right For You

By the time they enter their senior year of high school, all students feel the pressure of having to find colleges to apply to as they also battle with deciding upon a major and what career path they’ll follow. College isn’t always the right decision for every student, regardless of what their grade point averages are at the end of their high school careers. Many students choose not to go to college and instead enter the workforce immediately after they graduate. And, though there’s nothing wrong with this decision, they may feel that others look down upon them for making this choice.

Even though there’s a stigma associated with not pursuing a college degree, is a degree really necessary in today’s world? It turns out that many successful individuals never went to college or never finished college after they started. There are people who run successful businesses, as well as artists and musicians who have become famous, who never went to college to understand business or to improve their craft.

Below are some of the questions that you can ask yourself to determine if college is really the right choice for you. It is ultimately your personal decision, so think about this issue for a long time, do a lot of self-reflection, and then tell everyone that they can rest assured that you have given this a lot of thought and, therefore, they need to respect your choice.

Think About Your Career Path

The first thing you want to think about is what your career path will be. Does your family own a business that you want to dive into? If so, you may not need to go to college to learn the necessary skills. In fact, you may learn more on the job than you ever would in a classroom. Nevertheless, you may also benefit from working part-time at your family’s business while attending college to learn more about what you can do to make your business even more successful than it already is. Valuable skills that you learn in the classroom can then be transferred to your work environment.

If you decide that you want to pursue a career in a field that doesn’t require schooling, but rather looks for those who have experience, then you’ll probably be better off going right into the field upon graduation. After all, you can easily go back to school later on if you change your mind and want to change paths completely or if you need to improve your skills.

If You’re not Sure

If you’re ultimately undecided about what career path you want to pursue, going to college would be your best option because it will allow you to take classes in a variety of subject areas. From there, you can decide what most appeals to you and you can choose a major and pursue a degree as you move forward. This will prepare you for working in that chosen field and will give you the credentials to get hired.

About the Author: Kirsty is a freelance writer who understands how difficult it can be to decide upon the right college and major. Her advice is to learn from those working at colleges. A message from the director of the tax program can help you decide if a career in law is right for you.

My Favorite Law Book

My favorite law book is Evidence in Action by Justice Pronove. It's funny because I discovered that law book when I was almost out of school, and only a few months before graduation. It's actually not the typical hard-bound and heavy book used in law schools - it's more of a primer and contains less than 300 pages.

What I liked about Evidence in Action is that it has discussed the most important matters about evidence in the simplest way. It's also very helpful on teaching students and new lawyers on how objections are made during litigation.

I know it's both hard and scary to say your very first "Objection, you honor." in court. But reading Evidence in Action has taught me how and when to object. It's a very friendly book and it cost me a little over $10. It's a little book that every law student and lawyer must own.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Congratulations to the New UM Lawyers

The University of Mindanao has produced 6 new lawyers in 2013, namely:

Atty. Myla Luna
Atty. Janer Sanchez
Atty. April Mitchor
Atty. Alnessa Thea Repollo-Uy
Atty. Ronnie Bulotano
Atty. Zacharias Catulong


Congratulations!

A total of 32 new lawyers from Davao City passed the 2012 Bar Examinations. For a complete list of passers, please go to this link.

On April 12, 2012, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Davao City will be holding an oathtaking of the new lawyers in Davao City as well as the induction of the new set of chapter officers. The venue for this event will be at The Ritz Hotel, Garden Oases, Porrsas Street, Bo. Obrero, Davao City.

Complete List of 2012 Philippine Bar Examination Passers


1. A JOSE- AGUSTIN, Karren
2. ABASTILLAS, Lemuel
3. ABERIN, Ma. Christine
4. ABES, Royce Nieville
5. ABRENZOSA, Cleofe
6. ABUAN, Ruby Ryza
7. ACEDO, Kristian Josef
8. ACORDA, Jacqueline
9. ACOSTA, Lourdes Mae
10. ACOSTA, JR., Gil

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Learning skills improvement

Education is the thing we should urgently pay attention to. Nowadays it is a problem, as a level of education becomes lower every year, and there are different reasons for this phenomenon: the teachers’ qualifications, the level of the educational institution, the parents’ education etc. However, one of the main factors that determines the degradation is the pupils’ reluctance to study. Parents should work with their children and try to help them to improve their learning skills. However, not only pupils should deal with the learning skills improvement. We study during the whole life, and well-developed learning skills will stand you in good stead.  This task is real to succeed, you just need to know some information I want to share with you.

First of all, a pupil or a student should be conscious of what he wants to improve; he should have the so-called “learning strategies” to facilitate the process of learning skills improvement.  Before doing it, students should take into consideration the following factors:
  • Capacity to learn;
  • Interest in what he learns;
One of the main things is the motivation. The student should motivate himself, otherwise he will be frustrated. At this stage of improvement it will be better to define the goals:
  • What do you need?
  • Where you can use the attained knowledge?
  • What skills and habits you need to improve?
If you need to improve your study, try to avoid boredom, because it is the worst enemy of learning. You can vary different tasks and the way you can complete them. Moreover, if you are bored, your short-term memory won’t work. The process is, your short-term memory transforms the information into the long-term memory, and thus you remember the necessary things. If you are bored with the tasks, long-term memory doesn't get the necessary information.

Develop different techniques of study. Well-developed reading skills can help you to find the necessary information easily and quickly, the ability to make clear notes helps you to understand the information better; developed review techniques help you to keep the learnt material fresh in your memory.  It is obvious, that if you develop only one aspect, it won't do you good.


Your working place should be organized in the manner most appropriate for you. You should think about the light, noise, comfort etc. Moreover, start your work when you get everything you need for your study. Start your work with the most difficult one. In this way your brain will be fresh, and the task will be completed properly. It is recommended to do frequent breaks, your brain also need to have a rest, it will surely improve your learning ability and you will return to work with a fresh look and won’t be afraid of the difficult 
homework.  Train your memory, point out all the important information or you can even use the flash cards to remind you everything you need to remember. There are a lot of different games and techniques, so just choose one, which is good for you and learn with pleasure.

Some psychological moments should be mentioned here. Make sure you get enough sleep, otherwise your organism is tired and don’t have any desire to study. Finally, develop a positive attitude to the learning process. Turn your study into an exciting travel to the country of knowledge. Be sure, education is necessary in the modern world, especially if you want to live a good life and be able to teach your own children. Remember, that good education is your future and you should work hard to be a professional and have a successful career. It is a real chance to build up worthy future with great opportunities. 

Paul Smith works at http://essaywritingservice.co/. He is an interesting person, amusing interlocutor and good educator. It is a great pleasure for him to meet new people and make new acquaintance.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Criminal Defense

When you have received a criminal complaint against you, don't take it lightly. The best thing that you can do is to hire a lawyer who will explain to you the nature of your charges. Be honest with your lawyer, he can plan you defense and guide you in all the processes of trial.

Hiring a defense attorney might be cumbersome for some people. A lot do not like dealing with attorneys because they think that having a lawyer is expensive. Yes, hiring a lawyer comes with a price. But how much do you value your freedom? You cannot just sit around and wait for a verdict that would put you to jail just because you did not have a good defense.

Finding a lawyer is relatively easy. Take for example, if you need a lawyer in a certain area, you can search the internet, say for example, Criminal Defense Attorney Georgetown Texas, and the list of law firms and lawyers will be enumerated on the page. But who among these firms and lawyers are you going to choose?

All lawyers are board certified, of course, one cannot practice without passing the bar examination. But not all lawyers have the experience. Choose one with the experience in the field. If you need a defense attorney, choose a lawyer who has a good reputation in criminal defense and who has actually gone to court to personally defend his clients. And most of all, you need to ask around. Ask you friends, family, and relatives, they will only recommend good lawyers for you.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Judicial Affidavit Sample

With all the buzz going around about Judicial Affidavits, lawyers and law office staff have been scrambling to find where they could get samples of the Judicial Affidavit.

Here's how I do it:


The full version includes the Attestation Clause.

Want a free version? Click here and leave me a comment below with your email address.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Legal Translation and the Legal Profession

The implementation of the Judicial Affidavit Rule which took effect on January 1, 2013 has required  lawyers to prepare the judicial affidavit of their witnesses which shall  be in the language known to the witness and, if not in English, it must be accompanied by translation in English or in the official national language of the country.

Legal translation service may not be very common to us lawyers here in the Philippines because the translation is traditionally done in open court, during hearings, by no less than the government-employed court interpreter. But with the advent of the new rule requiring the lawyers to prepare the direct examinations in written form, there is a need for them to learn or avail of legal translation services that would help them to properly translate answers given to them in the local dialect or other language other than English.

Back in college, I have observed from the court once that the judge asked the English translation of singkamas when the witness mentioned it during his testimony. The court interpreter was at a loss of words and doesn't seem to know the translation. But the judge said that it is "turnip." I didn't know that! So what if your witness is one of the people from indigenous tribes, or one who speaks his local dialect that you don't know of? I'm sure that you will need professional legal translation services for you to finish your judicial affidavit on time.

If you are looking for professional legal translators who could help you translate your affidavits, contracts, depositions, and other documents, you might want to check out Linguistic Systems Inc. which has been serving the legal community since 1967 with their translation and interpreting services.