I. THE LEGAL PROFESSION
A. Supervision and Control
• Regulated by the Supreme Court and NOT the PRC.
• Const art. VIII, sec. 5(5).
The SC shall have the following powers:
(5) Promulgate rules concerning… practice and procedure in all courts, the admission into the practice of law, the Integrated Bar….
• Const art. XII, sec. 14.
…The practice of all professions in the Phils. shall be limited to Filipino citizens, save in cases prescribed by law.
• The power to integrate the Philippine bar is given to the SC by the Constitution. (In the Matter of the IBP (1973))
• RA 972, or the Bar Flunkers Act of 1953, was declared partially unconstitutional as it encroached upon the powers granted by the Constitution to the SC in determining the admission of bar examinees to the bar by usurping such power through a legislative act. (In Re: Cunanan (1954))
B. The Practice of Law
• Practice of law means any activity, in or out of court, which requires the application of law, legal procedure, knowledge, training and experience. It is to give notice or render any kind of service, which device or service requires the use in any degree of legal knowledge or skill. (Cayetano v. Monsod, 201 SCRA 210 (1991))1
o Padilla, Dissenting Practice of law – means to exercise or pursue an employment or profession, actively, habitually, repeatedly or customarily. There must be continuity or a succession of acts. Several factors enumerated by the Commission on Appointments to determine “practice of law”:
(1) Habituality - customarily or frequently holding one’s self out to the public as a lawyer...
