How to be the best lawyer in your chosen field of practice

By Joel San Juan

Share

When asked what advice he can give to the new breed of lawyers—considering the current backdrop of the legal profession such as the prevalent red–tagging and killings of lawyers—Atty. Nilo Divina, former Dean of the UST Faculty of Civil Law, said that for new lawyers, they should first determine where their passion lies.

Whether it is in corporate practice, advocacy, environmental, labor, tax or in any other field, Divina said lawyers should persevere to be the best in their chosen field of practice.

Atty. Nilo Divina

“You have to choose your passion. What is it that would make you excited? What is your passion?  It may be in corporate practice, then go ahead, be the best corporate lawyer that you can be. If your passion is advocacy, go ahead. It may not probably make the same amount of money as a corporate lawyer but if that is what will make you happy then go out and be the best advocate lawyer that you can be. You want to be an environmental lawyer, you want to be a labor lawyer, tax lawyer just choose your passion and once you have decided, be the best lawyer that you can be, under those circumstances,” he stressed.

Joel San Juan

A BusinessMirror reporter with a degree in Journalism from the University of Santo Tomas (UST). He has been working as a reporter for more than 20 years.

Table of contents [hide]

Read More

Cover

The peso paradox: Why more financially literate Filipinos are still struggling to build wealth

Malou Talosig-Bartolome -
On a payday morning somewhere in Bulacan, a mother walks into a sari-sari store clutching a handful of coins. She asks for a sachet of shampoo, P10-worth of cooking oil, and a...
Cover

Joaquin: In the nick of time

Psyche Roxas-Mendoza -
The country’s best writers and cultural institutions paid homage this year to the 100th anniversary of the late National Artist Nick Joaquin. Ironically, had Joaquin been around, he might never have allowed the tributes and accolades given in his honor. Or maybe, he would, but at great discomfort. Said writer Jose ‘Pete’ Lacaba, “Sinasabi sa amin ni Nick pag dumadalaw kami sa mga burol ‘ayaw ko ng mga tribute-tribute. Ibalot niyo na lang ako sa banig, itapon niyo ako sa Pasig River.’ Pero tinatanggap din naman niya pag binigyan siya ng award [Nick would tell us whenever we were in a wake, ‘I don’t like tributes. Just wrap me in a mat and throw me in the Pasig River. But he still would accept every time he is given an award].”
Cover

The World in the time of Nick Joaquin

Psyche Roxas-Mendoza -
Europe, the seat of everything that was grand, powerful, and prosperous, was caught in the teeth of the First World War, the year Nicomedes Márquez Joaquín was born on May 4, 1917. It was half a world away from a boy who would emerge half a century later as one of the greatest literary minds in a poor and exploited country still caught in its own, long drawn-out war of independence in 1917.
Cover

They who wrote for the Philippines Graphic

Graphic Editorial -
“Our sense ... of our country is a sustained act of imagination. From that vantage, it can be said that our writers and artists, who are men and women of imagination, create our country (italics mine). That is to say: they evoke those images of ourselves as we live life day and night, those images of ourselves which we share and by which we recognize our nativity. We are our own best interpreters of our history and culture because it is we who have lived through that history and created our own values by which we live.” —National Artist for Literature Gemino Abad