Pachao, Diane Blake B.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

2-B

Reaction Paper No. 1

THE LAWYERS PERSPECTIVE ON ADR IN THE COURTS AND ITS IMPLICATION

ON THE PROFESSION

In this article, it talks about the many roles that a lawyer can play. A lawyer can
be called a litigator, advocate, counsel, barrister and other similar terms. In society, a
lawyer is viewed as an officer of peace and protector of justice. However due to
changing times, a lawyers role is now confined in the four walls of the court room. A
lawyer now becomes a hotline that you call to fight your battles for you.
This change may be brought about by peoples incapacity to solve problems on
their own. I think that because we are born into a generation where people are too selfcentered and too impatient to settle disputes on their own, they have lost their ability to
sit down and talk. We care too much about our image that saying sorry and forgiving
others are signs of weakness.
Chief Justice Puno said that we have a culture known as ayusan and
pasensiyahan. He mentioned, conciliation, mediation, arbitration, mini-trial, early
neutral evaluation are devices more in accord with our culture roughly known as ayusin
ang hindi pagkakasundo. Today however, I have yet to see an argument where the
phrases Ill see you in court. and Talk to my lawyer. are not mentioned.
This article mentions that that should not be the case. Lawyers should also
embody the role of an advocate and promote peace between the parties. Thus the idea
of alternative dispute resolution. The court even encourages it. I think that the court
should be the last resort to settle misunderstandings. Parties should first try to resolve
problems within themselves to avoid going to court.
It has been said that this new method challenges lawyers to innovate ways on
how to promote peace and provide justice in an efficient and effective way. The article
even talked about this method on lawyer-client dynamics. It is resource-efficient,
facilitates the case and lastly justice is served.
Despite the fact that alternative dispute resolution is an emerging method, it has
been proven to be beneficial. I believe that we should support it to be able to make an
example to the future generations. Since this method also improves relations, it may be
able to prevent further misunderstanding arising from the same parties and issues.
Therefore, as advocates of peace, lawyers should be able to incorporate this method in
their practice.