feeling guilty

as a law intern for the UP Office of Legal Aid in my last year in law school, we handled actual cases for indigent clients.  in principle, we had to do everything under the supervision and control of a supervising lawyer. in principle.

in fact, OLA intern training begins with memorizing your most important speaking part:  Good morning/afternoon, your Honor.  Law Intern _____ appearing for the prosecution/defense, under the control and supervision of my supervising lawyer, Atty. ____.

during my OLA stint, i had to attend hearings and represent OLA clients in court aside from filing numerous pleadings.  from what i remember, i had approximately 2 appearances at the QC RTC (robbery), 4 appearances, including 2 cross-examinations at the Caloocan RTC (murder), 2 appearances at the NLRC, and 2 appearances at the Antipolo MTC (ejectment). 

of the approximately 10 court appearances i made, i was accompanied by a supervising lawyer only TWICE. my best friend, arlene, who was then reviewing for the bar, accompanied me on my first court appearance, and acted as my SL. (haha.) then i had a hearing in QC one morning and i saw SL Lim who was accompanying another intern who was under his team, and i asked him to just make an appearance with me since the fiscal had questioned the absence of my SL during the previous hearing.  he talked to the fiscal, made an appearance, and left me to fend for myself.

in short, i never had my actual SL present in any of my court appearances.

then last friday, dad woke me up.  he thrust a folder at me and told me to make a special appearance for him and request for the resetting of his case.  i didn't want to (i'm personally against resetting, especially when the resetting has been made a number of times already), but i had no choice as he had already left the house.  i looked at the file.  the other party was represented by OLA. hmmm. i knew that any motion for resetting would definitely be opposed.  i was apprehensive... if the hearing would push through, i was dirt.  i didn't know sh*t about the case.

fast forward to 2pm (i was late for the first call...) i looked for the law intern (easy to spot who) and approached him- - -

me:  hi, alumna ako.  batch 2005.  evening.  (smile, smile.) inform lang kita na magpapa-reset ako...
law intern (LI): hi.  naku, mag-o-oppose ako.  ilang beses na 'to di natutuloy.
me:  sorry ha. hindi ko alam yung case na 'to.  special appearance lang ako... anong year ka pumasok?
LI: nagka-abot pa tayo... but i don't remember you. (yep, maangas sya.)
me:  i don't remember you too.  day ka kasi... anyway, pa-reset ako.  tingnan nalang natin kung i-grant.

then the case was called - - -

me:  Special appearance, your Honor. (blah-blah)  I would like to request for a re-setting of the case since... (blah-blah.)
LI:  We oppose the motion, your Honor, (blah-blah-blah)
me:  Your Honor, where is the Supervising Lawyer of counsel?  As a former law intern myself, I know that it is necessary that an SL be present at all appearances of an intern, especially considering that we are appearing before the RTC.
LI:  This is only a preliminary conference.  I can appear without an SL.
me:  I beg to disagree.  The Student Practice Rule is clear.  An SL must be present to supervise the intern.
(blah-blah-blah...)
ang ending:  the motion for resetting was granted.

i know i was just doing what i had to do.  and everything i said was valid.  and i just had to somehow attack his lack-of-an-SL because he was not so nice to me (hello!  pa-graduate ka pa lang, tapos na ako!!!)...

but until now, i feel so guilty about it.  sigh.