The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday warned lawyers against posting their communications with clients in violation of the lawyer-client privilege, which could result in their disbarment.
Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen stressed that selfies are okay, but they noticed some lawyers have been posting on social media communications such as letters, text messages, and even gifts from their clients or photos of documents they will be filing in court.
“Selfies are okay, but lately, we have been noticing that lawyers posting photos of letters from their clients who liked their work, or they will post about documents they will be filing in court. They are probably excited, but that is not allowed,” Leonen warned.
Leonen along with Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo and Associate Justices Jose Midas Marquez and Japar Dimaampao were present during the SC Meets the Press: Dialogue and Thanksgiving event.
According to Leonen, mostly young lawyers are probably posting communications on social media “just to brag,” but such actions are “absolutely prohibited.”
“We need to preserve the confidentiality between lawyers and clients because once you post, you are actually opening third parties to your communication, which is actionable,” Leonen stressed.
“The tolerance of the Supreme Court on this has been stretched and sooner or later a disbarment case may be filed against one or two (lawyers) because they actually violated attorney-client privileged,” he said.
Leonen also reminded lawyers to respect the judiciary and “hold back a bit” on commentaries about pending cases. “What’s more important is to maintain the aura of justice rather than
showing arrogance that they are smarter,” Leonen also said.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said the SC has resolved 3,197 cases from January to November this year, which is higher than the disposition rate in 2021.
“So these include minute resolutions, unsigned resolutions, signed decisions, and signed resolutions,” Gesmundo said, in a press conference in Manila.
“We assure you that cases are moving faster than before and the disposition rate higher than the previous year,” Gesmundo added.
During the media briefing, Leonen said that the first National Shari’ah Summit will be held next year.
“For the first time ever, we will recognize the Shari-ah. Because we have many Shari’ah courts but there are certain things that we need to tackle,” he said.
The Shari’a court system was established to resolve cases using Islamic principles of justice.