SAJ Leonen to Lawyers: Be a Louder Voice of the Oppressed
Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen delivers the keynote speech at the 6th Leg Program for Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability Rollout in Angeles, Pampanga on March 22, 2024. (Photo courtesy of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Central Luzon; Caption courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
In the midst of existential threats that lawyers face, Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen called on law practitioners to use their positions to be a louder voice of the oppressed.
“We are here to make use of our positions to be a louder voice of the oppressed,” Justice Leonen said during his keynote speech in the 6th Leg Program for Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA) Rollout in Angeles, Pampanga on March 22, 2024.
For Justice Leonen, a good lawyer is someone who is grounded and aware of the social issues surrounding the world that we live in.
“We are only as good as our service toward the good of our people,” Justice Leonen said, adding that the core of lawyering is to provide access to justice.
Public interest lawyering
The senior associate justice also challenged law practitioners to restructure how they practice law and focus more on their various advocacies for marginalized groups.
Justice Leonen highlighted the process of public interest lawyering, which he said can be a way to develop legal partnership with their clients who have limited financial means.
“It also goes beyond the idea of lawyering as merely litigation,” he said. “It also involves the use of legal knowledge to restructure or reform existing laws, rules, and regulations which remain unresponsive to developments in society.”
But the associate justice admitted that not all lawyers are interested in practicing public interest lawyering because they are usually one of the poorest paid.
With this problem at hand, he urged the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to support the proposals to find alternative funding for public interest lawyers.
“Public interest lawyering is vital in improving our realities but the hurdles that surround it force us to recognize the issue of sustainability,” Justice Leonen said.
By strengthening public interest lawyering, Justice Leonen said legal advocacy will not be an individual and isolated cause but will now be a collective and evolving one.
Towards the end, Justice Leonen reminded lawyers to always be on the side of integrity and speak up against any form of injustice and discrimination.
“The justice that we serve should not be blind,” he stressed. “It should look at the reality that no two people stand on equal footing.” (Courtesy of the Office of Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen)
Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen calls on law practitioners to use their positions to be a louder voice of the oppressed in his keynote speech delivered at the 6th Leg Program for Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability Rollout in Angeles, Pampanga on March 22, 2024. (Photo courtesy of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Central Luzon; Caption courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen (center) poses for posterity with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Board of Governors at the 6th Leg Program for Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability Rollout in Angeles, Pampanga on March 22, 2024. (Photo courtesy of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Central Luzon; Caption courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen joins the attendees for a photo opportunity after delivering the keynote speech at the 6th Leg Program for Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability Rollout in Angeles, Pampanga on March 22, 2024. (Photo courtesy of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Central Luzon; Caption courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)