That was the FIRST TIME yet it almost changed my perspective as a whole.
I never thought that it’ll be this soon. I’ve seen a lot of this in televisions, never did I thought of attending one. Ok, this is getting absurd, i better stop fooling around here. Okay, so this almost life changing I am referring to is my experience in a trial court. And yes, I stand to my first statement.
As a requirement in my Law class, i marked my calendar for this “field work.” Oh yes, I was excited at first because I expect to see what I always see in teledramas and the like. I didn’t know what to wear at first, i thought, rather my groupmates and I thought, that a corporate attire or a very formal attire is the appropriate one. Good thing that a couple of early birds told us that a casual or smart attire will do,had they not, it’s gonna be a major fashion victim case for us.
We went at the Quezon City RTC before office hours. We first had a hard time finding a court room that will discuss civil cases for that day, almost all were scheduled for criminal cases,but luckily at random look in our left and right, we found one. And since we bear the name of being a UP student, it wasn’t that hard before the staff allow us to come in and observe, it was as if they were waiting for us.
So the court room was small- opposite of what I totally imagined. There were even no seats vacant for us six people. There were a lot of lawyers in the room- so far so good that I expect it. There were few commoners. And good thing, we weren’t in corporate attire, we would have been mistaken as young lawyers.
The judge was late and I guess it’s culturally dictated. By the time the judge come in, everything was put into silence. And there my experience started. We attended a pre-trial of around 10 civil cases. It was totally different from what I expected. Everything went fast. And to be honest, I understand only a few. The scenario was like a girl on the right side of the judge will read a case, and the lawyers under that case would come up front. They would exchange a couple of arguments, some would just reschedule their hearing, there were this one who brought with him a representative of the plaintiff’s saying that they were now open for a compromise, there were some whose lawyer’s weren’t present, in short it was too much for that moment. I was totally blank at first, I didn’t expect it coming that way. My mind was set only for a single case, the usual I see in TV.
Luckily, there was this short cross-examination scheduled midway the pre-trial, and that was the highlight of my experience. At least, for that moment, those I visualize somewhat happened. A defendant stood up and sat on the witness’ seat. And the lawyer of the plaintiff started asking him questions, showing him papers. There was tension for every answer. The defendant’s lawyer, unethically I suppose, explicitly coaches his client what to answer. The plaintiff who happens to be sitting in front of us, comments violently for every answer she hears. The lawyers of both parties are almost quarreling. And what surprise me the most, is when the plaintiff named Victoria GAddi pulled out from her bag a poison letter and then she simultaneously said “Sinungaling” to the defendant Mr. Gaddi as he leaves the room. I didn’t expect anything like that, but I like that something colorful added to my experience.
It left me with a great impact. I don’t know if it is too early to say, but that experience made me realize that for some reasons, I don’t or I wont fit into the profession. I can’t handle that kind of stress, particularly those not actually mine. I can’t argue on the top of my voice, I can’t seem to think of defending a client who is at guilt, I can’t seem to carry the burden if ever I fail my client. There are a lot I can’t seem to handle, or as of the moment were discouraged to do. The only nice thing I’ve observed is that at the end of the day, the lawyers were acting civil to each other, or we can even label them “friends.”
and they say...