Serve others, SC chief to AdMU law grads

Supreme Court Chief Alexander G. Gesmundo urged the graduates of the Ateneo de Manila School of Law's Class of 2022 to be lawyers "with the highest standards of legal proficiency, morality, honesty, integrity, and fair dealing" and "with a burning passion for justice and a fervent desire to serve."

Speaking during the 76th Annual Commencement Exercises of the Ateneo de Manila School of Law held at the Henry Lee Irwin Theater in Quezon City on 10 December, Gesmundo said they should be "lawyers for others" above all else.

"Having studied in an institution with the best campus for learning, the best facilities, and the best professors, easily you can get lost in the comfort, convenience, and excellence of everything that surrounds you…But lest you forget, while these may be the familiar trappings of an Ateneo education, it is not its hallmark. Because the hallmark of an Ateneo education is service to others, it is using what you have learned for the service of others," he said.

Gesmundo said being an Atenean lawyer comes with prestige, comfort, and success but it also comes with responsibility.

"At its core, to be an Atenean lawyer is to be a lawyer for others — just as we are taught here in the Ateneo to be, first and foremost, men and women for others. You will not be simply lawyers; you will be lawyers trained in the Ignatian tradition of magis — of serving the greater good, of aspiring to do great things, of doing more for others," he said.

He also paid tribute to the late Fr. Joaquin Bernas, whom he extolled as "one of the best to ever grace its halls, both as a student and as a professor."

"Fr. Bernas was a man for all seasons: You may know him best as one of the key framers of our Constitution, and one of its leading authorities. Indeed, he played no small part in making our Constitution, which, in the words of Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., is the only Constitution in the world that is once pro-God, pro-Life, pro-Filipino, pro-People, pro-Poor, pro-Labor, pro-Social Justice and Human Rights, pro-Family, pro-Youth, pro-Women and pro Environment," he added.

Gesmundo, who obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1984, praised his alma mater, referring to it as among the country's "best, oldest, and most prestigious institutions of learning."

The Chief Justice is among the seven incumbent Members of the Supreme Court who are from Ateneo Law.