Kaban ni Lino Labra: HAGAWHAW, KAUSABAN, KASINATIAN

Two law school buddies were talking about their bachelor escapades inside my partner's office. whenI happened to drop by in my partner's cubicle for a brief discussion on a case that we have to rescue before the dying days of prescription shall take a tool on our client's cause of action. Inside, my partner and his law school buddy  were giggling with gusto reminishing the romantic interlude of their youthful days with pretty women they loved and never loved in law school while still in the hype of their singleness. I butted in but I could not relate because their language was Greek to me. They are now in their early 30's. One is already happily married and a reformed rake. He has shown determination to leave behind his colorful life as a lover boy after finding a gem in his pretty, loving and brilliant wife.

The other one is already a father but not a husband. While talking about his new love interest, I can read between his eyes  the fulfillment of living in blessed singleness with blessings of pretty women coming in and out of his life. I heard they were going to a nearby beer station to celebrate the rare moment of being together again once in a blue moon. I could not speak on what transpired in their would-be lively discussion over bottles of beers but I am certain that the dou would not be talking about Mother Mary and the five mysteries ---who else but the Mary Magdalene in their lives. 

Talking must have been their only refuge by now to keep their youthful days alive because being naughty these days are things not in their bucket list after having reached the age of maturity to discern what is good for the family of my married partner and for the child of this unmarried buddy. Without fear of being contradicted, these buddies are now better than the best at their prime having taken a quantum leap of their lives as successful young and brilliant litigators.  I heard, in due time the unmarried one will soon tie a knot to his new find and his married buddy will be his official marital guidance counselor. What these two buddies are doing right in front of my eyes and ears are indication that they have made a paradigm shift on their lives now that they have become members of the bar.

Before they left the office to somewhere else, I had the chance to introduce relevant digression in their discussion. I was trying to convince this unmarried buddy to attend the TRIAL ACADEMY that our office is initiating every Saturday. As spring board to our discussion, I cited the very moment that my chief of staff handed over to me additional thousand of pesos from a client as token of gratitude for a legal service. The unmarried buddy was a witness when my chief of staff handed over one thousand to me and another P 500.00 to my partner.

I told this unmarried buddy that what is happening at that moment was an example of what a paradigm shift of lawyering can bring to a lawyer in terms of monetary and non-monetary aspect of lawyering. In response to his query what does it mean--- I told him in gist that paradigm shift in lawyering is getting away from the flow where clients' misery is the lawyer's son tuition fee. Do not run after money because money runs faster than your needs. Just be passionate and faithful to your oath and to your clients' cause, money will be running after you.  He was a witness when the additional thousands of pesos were handed over to us inside the cubicle where they were talking about their lives of being bad once and being good boys once again.

In addition, I shared to them a story of a desperate woman seeking legal  advice for two things: a brother bullying her to the sharing of inheritance and she wanted to have the document prepared and signed by her mother before the latter's death would further aggravate her problem with the brother. The second concern was a telecommunication company billing for poor services rendered to her mobile account. She wanted to hire my services to fight for her right against the telecom company for billing her wrong in the amount of P 12,000.00. The two reformed buddies were stopped for a while to their pruprient discussionto  listen my story because it happened few minutes before I barged in to their conversation. I shared to these two buddies how did I end up with another P 1,000.00 on the same afternoon by telling the desperate woman not to hire me as her counsel for that case and pay me P 20,000.00 as acceptance fee. Instead, I encouraged her to settle the P 12,000.00 billing to a lesser amount because doing so would give her peace of mind than getting into a costly trouble due to wounded feeling arising from raging pride. In short, I discouraged her from enriching me in exchange for the wisdom of the solution of her predicament.

She must have found sense in my legal advice that when our discussion was centered to her bullying brother, she was almost teary-eyed while I was describing a scenario of what an aging mother at 80 years old would be  feeling watching  her two children fighting for her properties while she is still alive. With the death of their father two years ago, I told the client that their mother would soon follow. If she pursues her plan of suing her brother, she too would be losing him as family feud over properties are issues hardly to reconcile. I ended up our conversation with a message that they are blessed with properties to be inherited from their mother why gave the latter a headache while still living the last breath of her life. I didn't know if she took my advice hook, line and sinker that when we ended up our session, I declined her offer to pay my consultation fee with a plea to have peace with her brother for the sake of their mother. Our office charges P 200.00 as consultation fee regardless of hours. But this time, she left P 1,000.00 for me not for the consultation because I offered it for free but for gratitude that I lent to her my ears to her story that lawyering as solution would aggravate her situation.

At the lobby, I parted ways from the two buddies by telling them to be part of this movement making this  paradigm shift of lawyering to happen and to be a reality in Cebu for the sake of the generation of their eldest daughters whose birthdays fall almost at the same time because they were the products of the prime of their times.

(Bug-os ang  pasalamat sa KAHAYAG ngadto sa nagsulat niining  artikulo  nga si ATTY. PAULINO  B. LABRADO, Senior Partner sa P.B. LABRADO  and PARTNERS. Magsusulat  ug magpaambitan siya sa iyang mga  hunahuna mahitungod sa  nagkalain-laing hisgotanan nga makita sa  maukiton niyang mata ug mga kasikas nga madungog sa  iyang maabtikong dunggan.)