This case has been cited 3 times or more.
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2012-11-14 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| For administrative liability under Canon 18 to attach, the negligent act of the attorney should be gross[21] and inexcusable[22] as to lead to a result that was highly prejudicial to the client's interest.[23] Accordingly, the Court has imposed administrative sanctions on a grossly negligent attorney for unreasonable failure to file a required pleading,[24] or for unreasonable failure to file an appeal,[25] especially when the failure occurred after the attorney moved for several extensions to file the pleading[26] and offered several excuses for his nonfeasance.[27] The Court has found the attendance of inexcusable negligence when an attorney resorts to a wrong remedy,[28] or belatedly files an appeal,[29] or inordinately delays the filing of a complaint,[30] or fails to attend scheduled court hearings.[31] Gross misconduct on the part of an attorney is determined from the circumstances of the case, the nature of the act done and the motive that induced the attorney to commit the act.[32] | |||||
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2007-04-13 |
CALLEJO, SR., J. |
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| This rule is consistent with the principle that an attorney who undertakes to conduct an action impliedly stipulates to carry it to its termination, and is not at liberty to abandon it without reasonable cause.[21] The duty of a lawyer to safeguard his client's interests commences from his retainer until his effective discharge from the case or the final disposition of the entire subject matter of the litigation.[22] The discharged attorney must likewise see to it that the name of the new counsel is properly recorded and the records properly handed over.[23] Verily, the abandonment of a client in violation of the attorney's contract amounts to an ignorance of the most elementary principles of professional ethics.[24] | |||||
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2004-11-04 |
QUISUMBING, J. |
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| Respondent should be reminded that once a lawyer agrees to take up the cause of a client, the lawyer owes fidelity to such cause.[29] The lawyer must serve the client with competence and diligence, and champion the client's cause with wholehearted fidelity, care, and devotion.[30] Otherwise stated, the lawyer owes entire devotion to the interest of the client, warm zeal in the maintenance and defense of the client's rights, and the exertion of the lawyer's utmost learning and ability to the end that nothing be taken or withheld from the client, save by the rules of law legally applied.[31] This simply means that the client is entitled to the benefit of any remedy and defense that is authorized by law and may expect the lawyer to assert every such remedy or defense.[32] Until the lawyer's withdrawal is properly done, the lawyer is expected to do his or her best for the interest of the client. | |||||