PROFILE ARTICLE featuring Atty. John Erwin Reyes

1. What is your profession?
“I am a practicing lawyer.”

2. What influenced you to take up law?
“What influenced me to take up law? Well, it’s more often a... by my pride, actually. I was in college and ever since I was in high school, I dreamt of being... of becoming a big person — a known person publicly, actually. However, when I took up college, I have no... I was really not sure what to take as my course... to take medicine, architecture, engineering and a lot of other things. Hence, I ended up taking up Bachelor in Arts and Letters and then ended up taking economics as my major course. As the years go by, when I was in third years, I realized that I wouldn’t amount much after graduating and earning a degree in economics and so I wanted a higher degree, higher education and so I decided to take up law ‘cause I don’t have any other options. So, it’s more of a... it’s more of pride, more of giving importance to what I want to become in the future so I took up law. My motivation would be self-grandeur, actually.”

3. Who are your top 3 role models, why?
“Top 3 role models... I think I only have one which would be my grandfather — my grandfather from my mother’s side. He was my role model back then because I saw how the excluded authority for other people, everyone he talked to, and everyone he met; respecting him so as a child, I wanted to be just like him where people would respect... respect me as a leader, as a person so he was my role model who made me what I am today, actually.”

4. What is your motivation to be a good lawyer?
“Motivation would be taking care of my person’s name, that’s never been tarnished at any cost so I try my best in every case I handle because I don’t want to face public shame or public ridicule that I’m not a good lawyer or that I was negligent in handling everyone’s case so that would be my motivation for becoming a good lawyer. It’s actually taking care of my honor as a lawyer.”

5. How much do you love your profession?
“How much do I love my profession? Well, if I would rate it at a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. Well, that would be 8.”

6. What is the biggest case that you’ve handled?
“The biggest case that I’ve handled is the double murder case in Angeles, Pampanga making an expatriated foreigner who was killed in his home with his paramour. With his paramour, they were gunned down by one of their friends and my client then was one of the employees of the suspect. So, that is my biggest case.”

7. How do you handle a loss of a case or lawsuit?
“Then, I’ll review the case again and I prepare a remedy for the client.”

8. What is the biggest problem you’ve ever faced to pursue your dream profession and how hard is it?
“... And that would be money because studying entails expenses, lots of expenses, so money was the greatest obstacle when I took up law.”

9. What are your traits and characteristics that helped you to be in your position right now?
“Traits, characteristics... One, I am persistent. Second, I am pilosopo so I am both minded and also I’m proud. I don’t want to lose a case anymore that’s why I did everything to pass all my subjects when I was in the school of law and so I did everything it takes to pass the board exam because I don’t want to lose a case anymore, because I don’t want other people to see me taking the risk, giving everything I had for my dream and in the end I had nothing to show for it. That’s it. Okay, that’s fine.”

10. What other professions have you dream of when you were young?”
“When I was younger, like I said, I wanted to become a doctor, engineer, and architect. I want to be a journalist, a firefighter, train operator, a pilot, so I wanted to become a lot of things back then — to be a soldier.”

11. What advice can you give to those people who aspire to be a lawyer?
“They need to enhance or develop the basic skills to become a lawyer. One is listening skills, second is communication skills, writing skills, research skills, analytical skills. So, if you don’t have any of those, you don’t have all of those skills, you’ll not become a lawyer because becoming a lawyer is being able to gather and collect data or information and analyze all those information and relay and interpret those information and relay them to other people so if you don’t have all of those skills, you cannot become a lawyer, ‘di ba? How can you become a lawyer if you cannot understand the client’s concern? Hence, you need to listen. Second, you cannot get all the information if you don’t know how to ask the proper questions. Then if you cannot answer those questions, you don’t know how to look for the answer so we have to do research. Now you know the questions, you have the answers; you need to analyze how to apply the answers to the question. Hence, you’ll need the skills how to analyze the information and lastly, you need to be good in communication skills, writing skills, because you cannot relay your interpretation of those data or information to other people if you cannot speak properly or if you cannot write properly. A lawyer’s job is to speak for his client so a lawyer cannot speak properly, you cannot communicate properly, and you’ll not become a good lawyer. Tama ba?”