Several days before
January 20 of this year, I woke up in the middle of the night bothered by two
cases I am currently handling. I immediately prayed to God to help me win these
cases then I went back to sleep. Then on the 20th I received the
decision in one of the cases from the labor court dismissing complainant’s appeal and affirming
the labor arbiter’s decision that there was just cause for the employee's dismissal. As a background, the case arose from the complaint of an employee of
one of the logistics companies under the conglomerate I work for. This employee
was found to have participated in fraudulent transactions in cahoots with the
former Vice President of said logistics company. The findings were arrived at
after an internal audit on the operations and accounting transactions wherein
it was discovered that two checks were issued to the same person showing the
same amount but booked as different transactions. Anyway, when the company’s
Chief Finance Officer learned about this she got mad as it turned out she was
the one who helped the employee land her job at the company. In her outrage and
during one of the company events, she told the employee that she will be
dismissed from work. But even before the company could act on her termination
by undertaking the proper dismissal procedure, the employee started filing her
leave of absence until such time that the company received a notice for
conciliation in relation to the illegal dismissal case filed by the
subject employee. To cut the long story short, I handled the case and won before the Labor Arbiter. The complainant appealed said decision but the
same was dismissed as shown in that 20 January decision.
My point here is that I may or may not win that case on my own. The same is unsure. But with the
Lord’s help the win was inevitable. The night when I suddenly woke up was not a coincidence. It happened because the Lord, before making a decision to
help me, wanted to be sure if I deserve that win. And I believe the case won because I acknowledged that I cannot do it on my own and I needed Him to
handle it for me. When I told my co-lawyers about the result I subscribed the
win to God. The case won because I prayed. The case won not because I’m a great lawyer because
that is far from the truth. The case won because I have the best co-counselor fighting it out with and for me.
Whenever I pray to God about my cases, I
tell Him that He should decide whether winning my case would be in accordance with
His will. If I believe the case I am handling is meritorious I tell Him so. But
at the end of the day, I let Him decide because what may be right and just for
me may not be so for Him.
I am just blessed that I
am in this side of the profession that I do not have to sacrifice my morals and
principles to win a case in my client’s favor. My clients listen to reason and
if the case should be settled for a win-win outcome for both parties then they
will consider and most of the time, heed the advice. I pity lawyers who have
been accustomed to resorting to dirty tactics just to win cases. I know of so many ambulance chasers and the like. I do not want to judge them but I try never to
emulate them. I pray that God will take care of me so I won’t be forced to
doing things I would regret for the rest of my life and career as a lawyer.
“For
by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it
is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.” -Ephesians 2:8-10
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