By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
mestizos.”
I had to attend an MCLE seminar the past four days. We had to endure listening to boring legal lectures on what are considered new matters in the law. MCLE stands for Mandatory Continuing Legal Education. There is a tagalog translation of it which prominently include the word “sapilitan.” And you even have to pay a fee for the seminar. But not going through it means you cannot go on practicing law.
In the seminar, attendees had to sit around circular tables. Each table would sit around eight participants. There was no predetermined arrangement. You just sat by a table when you get in.
When we looked at ourselves sitting on the first table from the entrance, lo and behold….. we were mostly senior citizens. After a few minutes on the first day, former mayor and congressman Domogan arrived and sat with us. Another senior.
There was, however, one very young lawyer who opted to be with us. According to him, “he wanted to learn some lessons from the elders.” I am sure he did learn a thing or two from the jokes and stories from everyone.
An interesting story was that of a drunk of a lawyer whose brilliance in the courtroom would be spewing out only after a toast of gin. He must have been the Edgar Allan Poe of the local legal circle.
This lawyer did not keep, as everybody does, a diary containing a schedule of his court hearings. He remembered things, allegedly.
At one time he was in court facing off with a brilliant lawyer from Metro Manila. The case must have one of the earliest that was called. The drunk lawyer appeared to be still cold and tongue tied during the arguments. He was being clobbered by the Metro Manila based lawyer. Noticing this, the judge called for a recess in the proceedings then called the drunk lawyer to his chambers and was offered a “shot” of gin. After a few minutes, the case was called again. The drunk lawyer was then able to come up with brilliant arguments in a “fast and furious” manner that the Metro Manila lawyer was literally driven to the ropes.
At another time, the same drunken lawyer at another time was up against a capable one who was presenting a German woman as a witness. Again, the drunk lawyer had a cold start. Somehow, he was able to get a shot of his beloved gin. Then things got interesting. When he cross-examined the German witness, his mouth became like a machine gun, spewing out words rapidly, and his face came so close to the face of the woman who ended up complaining to the judge about the lawyer’s saliva sprinkling her face. The judge had to order the drunken lawyer to stay farther from the witness. … but the lawyer succeeded in destroying the composure and concentration of the witness. I would not be surprised if she later made conflicting statements, destroying her credibility.
There were other drunk lawyers we talked about which made us all lament the non-use or mis-use of their brilliance.
In all those times, former mayor and congressman Domogan emphasized to the younger lawyers the Value of preparation before going to court. He could not have been more correct.
If you ask me, the lessons we got informally from such seminars were a lot more valuable than what we got from the lectures. More important though were the laughter that all the jokes and funny stories evoked. These, I am sure, were medically more valuable than all the anti-cancer medications that money could buy.**
