LEGAL INSIGHTS FROM A SUCCESSFUL CASE

By Atty. Katherine Panguban

I had a short post yesterday about this when the good news reached me, but I still think I needed a longer one and put my heart out there. 

I am really proud of my law student practitioners under our Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) in Adamson College of Law, who became part of the legal team for a fellow Adamsonian who was facing trumped-up charges of tumults for supporting the September 21 anti-corruption, anomalous flood control rally last year.  

They researched, prepared, asked difficult questions, sat through the long hours, and learned to navigate the realities of public interest lawyering. They even went as far as visiting the areas mentioned by the client along Recto Avenue where he and his companions were illegally arrested for just being present there. But more importantly, they chose to stand with another student whose constitutional right to assemble and participate in collective action was being challenged.

And yesterday, after a makapigil-hiningang moment inside the courtroom na nakayuko lang daw sila the entire moment, we celebrated an acquittal.

This victory is a reminder that clinical legal education is not just about learning the law inside a classroom. It is about bringing students into the realities of lawyering—to see how the law can be used to defend rights, protect dignity, and stand with people when it matters most.

To my students from the expanded Tuesday group Lyka, Jacob, Dan, Lance, Mildred, Rest-Day, Rem, Patrick, Rachel, Topher, Aejay: I hope you know how proud I am of you. You were not merely observers. You were law student practitioners who contributed to the work, learned from it, and stood in solidarity with a fellow Adamsonian. I hope you carry this experience with you for a long time. Sana na-goosebumps-feels din kayo after ninyong makita sa 15-page decision na quoted ang ilan sa mga pinag-isipan at pinag-praktisan ninyong mga tanong sa cross nung arresting officer at sa findings ng Court na the defense witnesses’ testimonies are “credible, consistent and straightforward…” when you presented them. 

My deepest thanks as well to my fellow Falcon lawyers-alumni from Adamson University – Atty. Rachel for volunteering to notarize his requirements for bail inside the detention facilities in MPD, including for the others who were also arrested and were detained at detention facilities in different Manila police stations and to Atty. Toby, to our collaborating lawyers from NUPL Attys. Jun and RC Cali who helped supervise, guided, and mentored my students throughout the preparations. Thank you for trusting them with the work and, more importantly, for helping them learn what it means to practice law with purpose.

This is why I believe in clinical legal education.

Because law school should not only teach students how to practice law. It should teach them who the law is for.

And I could not be prouder of these young people who chose to stand with another student when it mattered.

This is public interest lawyering.

This is solidarity in practice. 

Ayokong magbilang sa mga kasong nahawakan natin sa Legal Aid at CLEP, including under our Practicum, Legal Counseling at Human Rights classes before under the old curriculum. Basta ang alam ko, ang Vincentian lawyering natin ay laging lawyering with a <3 for the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized and victims of rights violation. 

And I hope, we will not stop. 

Photo credits (with consent from client): Patrick Patiño