Lawyers and the Outsourcing Industry

Lawyers are often seen inside the courts and halls of justice. Lawyers are also inside the posh offices of Makati Central Business District staring at computer monitors and clicking the mouse. They work as knowledge workers for Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) or Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) companies for a salary higher than the take-home pay of an average associate in a medium-sized law firm. The outsourcing industry is the milking cow of lawyers. They say the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Even lawyers from top-notch law offices in the Philippines are being lured to join the bandwagon. It is like the residents of surgery transfering to dermatology. After the blood bath, lawyers are hoping to be shiny and glossy people. The money is good, the job is flexible and the working environment is not that rigid. This is heaven for lawyers who got tired of law practice and want to enjoy the life they bargained for a lucrative practice. It is a misconception that this industry is just a venue for losers. If it is, then what is the explanation behind the voluminous job applications whenever there is a job posting from a multi-national KPO or LPO? Why? Maybe, lawyers are also affected by the global recession. Maybe, private practice is not that promising nowadays, clients would not pay. Lawyers cannot simply waive their fees just because of the economic slump. Or maybe, lawyers are just tired. Maybe there is a surplusage of law practitioners. We can only speculate. The other side of the world of the legal profession is the road less travelled. This is the comfort zone for some of the veterans in the industry. This is where you could find beautiful and gorgeous lawyers. This is the place where there is no room for egotistic professionals. This is an alternative career.

Why Lawyers Remain SINGLE for a LONG Time

The average marrying age of lawyers is 30 for women. For the males age does not matter, they just get married when they feel like it is about time or an unplanned pregnancy happened. The couples who ended walking down the aisle were dating since law school. For the men, they would pop the question to their respective long-time girlfriends after a period of six to ten years. Getting married is an obligation with conditions. The girl waited for his man to finish law school then to pass the bar and finally to take his lawyer's oath and sign the roll of attorneys. After becoming a full-fledged lawyer, the time has come to enter into another contract, a special one which is marriage. In the interim, the man keeps filing a petition to God, a petition for his girlfriend to be enjoined from asking the question, So When? Maybe the girl could also study law, just to let time pass by before her man finish the unfinished business. How about the remaining population of the female lawyers? After law school and passing the bar, they become married to their jobs. It is a fact, men are intimated by women with higher paychecks. Even a majority of men in the legal profession don't want lawyers as their future housewives. This is the ugly truth. Thus, the tired and lonely single female lawyer keeps on filing a time motion to God, a motion for extension of time to find her better half. Pending resolution of the motion, she's still optimistic but the biological clock keeps on ticking. A woman is in normal child-bearing condition until the age of 35. It is also a double-standard in this society, male lawyers can dominate the market once they become lawyers as their Facebook status says so, while female lawyers are left in the dark. Men and women are not really created equal. The lawyering profession is still traditional despite the advent of Twitter, i-phones and sex scandals. So, the reason why lawyers remain single for a long time is the basic fact that lawyers don't want to marrry one another. The male lawyer eversince he entered law school took an oath of allegiance to her high school girlfriend. The female lawyer on the other hand keeps on waiting, anyway finding Romeo has no prescription and is not barred by res judicata.

Alternative Career

If you were not a lawyer, what would you rather be? We asked some of our colleagues and here are their answers:

1. Atty. CL- lounge singer
2. Atty. FF- band vocalist
3. Atty. NP- chef
4. Atty. MB- gag show writer/entertainment columnist
5. Atty. CR- supermodel

Believe it or not, sometimes we wish that we could have another job or an alternative career. Its not that we are not happy as lawyers. We are. We are blessed to be a part of the legal fraternity. We believe that lawyering is still a noble profession. We just want to have a parallel universe, where there is just fun, where we could loosen up and relax. Where there is no stress, no brain work. No pleadings and no client meetings. Law school suspended our lives at one point. Maybe, that's the reason why we want to break free, sometimes...

Lawyers at Play

Welcome to the blog of three glam lawyers working in the business district of Makati City Philippines. Lawyers at Play is not an ordinary lawyer's blog. We would like to share our random thoughts about anything under the sun. Lawyers work hard but they play harder. We would like to present to the worldwide community the non-traditional profile of a lawyer. We don't just argue and rest our case. We know how to play. Seriously!