Lawyering @ the 21st Century

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” – Albert Einstein

Such situation is true even as of now. It’s no doubt that the invention of the atomic bomb has brought unforseen destruction that left a wound that even refuses to heal up to now. If history is bound to repeat itself then it has during the explosive advance of information technology, now with a greater blast radius, global effect and the damage irreversible. Just kidding. Haha. Of course that’s one way some people see it, paranoid in a way, but you cannot discount that the recent explosion caught the whole world unawares. The creator of the ‘love bug’ got away scot free because there was no legislation passed at the time of the offense, millions of dollars were lost; the internet also become a haven for sex offenders from all around the world and it was just recently that US authorities started to agressively arrest offenders (MySpace profiles lead to sex-offender arrests – By PEGGY O’HARE Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle). Clearly there is an apparent gap between the legislation for information technology and the technology itself. The article calls for immediate action, we have to deal with it because it’s not that it’s happening it JUST happened.

Intellectual Property

An article in Wikipedia regarding 21st century talks about Intellectual property:

The increasing popularity of digital formats for entertainment media such as movies and music, and the ease of copying and distributing it via the Internet and peer-to-peer networks, has raised concerns in the media industry about copyright infringement. Much debate is proceeding about the proper bounds between protection of copyright, trademark and patent rights versus fair use and the public domain, where some argue that such laws have shifted greatly towards intellectual property owners and away from the interests of the general public in recent years, while others say that such legal change is needed to deal with the threat of new technologies against the rights of authors and artists (or, as others put it, against the outmoded business models of the current entertainment industry). Domain name “cybersquatting” and access to patented drugs to combat epidemics in third-world countries are other IP concerns.

Commerce and trade according to Atty. Chan-Gonzaga changed in the 21st century with GATS and the apparent globalization. A country like the Philippines cannot keep herself in recluse while its neighbors take a slice from the new world with its vast potentials still untapped. A lawyer in the Philippines may offer services of mediation for parties in Singapore through email; giant internet companies like Google and Microsoft are in constant legal battle concerning new issues that arise from the products that they are selling and among the most common issues is intellectual property.

Profession vs. Trade?

Boundaries between nations start to fade, old legal terms need to be redefined (Cayetano v. Hernandez) and the relationship between client and lawyer may change as well. With the easily accessible and oft cheap means of communication, a budding new culture has surfaced and the nature of relationship between individuals are also affected. The question of lawyering being a profession is questioned and challenged again. The internet has spun an intricate web connecting us to everyone around the world that at most times, communication become less personal which tends to make lawyering lean towards just being a commodity.

Lawyering at the 21st century emphasizes the need for lawyers and the law to keep up with the past paced change in the internet and to the future lawyers, there are new frontiers that opened up with it. This is reminiscent of the emperialism in the 1500s where countries like Britain and others in Europe set out to the new world discovering new resources and opening new trade routes. Can we keep up?

The Role of the Lawyers in these Changing and Challenging Times

There are countless times where the lawyers are in the front lines, finding themselves torn in between the conflict, risking their lives and of their families and working in a sometimes cruel and dangerous environment just to uphold the law. Lawyers and us who would want to practice law see the world as an ever changing and challenging world.Protection of Human Rights

Here is an excerpt from the article on Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:

Whereas professional associations of lawyers have a vital role to play in upholding professional standards and ethics, protecting their members from persecution and improper restrictions and infringements, providing legal services to all in need of them, and cooperating with governmental and other institutions in furthering the ends of justice and public interest…

War crimes trials are held from across the globe, new legislations are passed and new issues arise from conflicts wherein lawyers take up roles in very important events concerning the protection of the human rights and upholding domestic and international laws.

Recently, the Sierra Leone court gave war crimes verdict to offenders related to Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war. It is the first where an international community ruled on the recruitment of child soldiers. Such achievements will not happen without the lawyers working to conduct a trial to ensure that the law is upheld and the sentence delivered.

Catalysts for Change

The two most recent top bar passers from Cebu, if I’m not mistaken said in one media interview that they wanted to be “catalysts for change” and countless other people want to be. Yet the lawyers have the power and capability to make lasting effects. Such power coupled with a good sense of responsibility can move the nation forward.
Cliché as it may sound but law has a significant impact on the nation and the society. For the nation to move forward, she needs an excellent legal system and set of policies that would serve as foundations for a stable and growing economy. Lawyers have the power and the ability to initiate change in the society. That power, as most of us have seen has been gravely abused in the present but still if there are people who can rid the corruption in our society they are the same people who became the source of the problem. The legal system is a battlefield of lawyers who would like to protect the freedom of the citizens against power hungry lawyers who like to further their influence, protect their own interests and increase their wealth.

On the other note, technological advances would require assistance from lawyers for the protection of intellectual property and new laws need to be passed in order to cope with the latest advances in technology. Last June 14, 2000, former president Joseph Estrada signed the Electronic Commerce Act in response to the growing marketplace in the Internet. Had this law not passed a few years ago the Internet commerce in the Philippines would not have flourished. Nowadays, anyone can purchase products from the local e-bay or even purchase products from other countries.

Throughout history, lawyers have played a vital role in the major events of the civilized world. From a simple domestic case to major conflicts in a nation in most cases politics, from enacting local ordinances to passing a major law in the congress even in the declaration of war or peace.

Notes:

Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (Adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Havana, Cuba, 27 August to 7 September 1990)

Sierra Leone court gives first war crimes verdict (June 21, 2007) – SABC news (http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/west_africa/0,2172,151261,00.html)