Rights lawyer Kristina Conti believes there is a need to educate the public that lawyers should really work for the good of all.

This, as she disclosed, continues receiving threats since she started helping victims of abuses by powerful officials, which include online ridicule, hate messages and red-tagging.

“It’s a noble profession, and whether you’re a corporate, public interest, or government lawyer, we are all bound by the same principles. When legal systems are broken in one part of the world, it weakens the rule of law globally,” Conti said.

The Supreme Court’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022- 2027 (SPJI) has stated that its goal may only come to fruition if members of the legal profession, together with other justice stakeholders, commit to delivering timely and fair justice.

Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo underscored this during the Ethics Caravan for the Proposed Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA) on 10 November.

“Our goal to deliver timely and fair justice is one that can be achieved if we work together. Efficiency, innovation, and access, the outcomes of the SPJI, may only be attained through meaningful cooperation between the members of the bar, the bench, court officials and employees, other public officials, and court users,” said Chief Justice Gesmundo.

He further stressed: “It is high time for all of us to take responsibility for giving dignity and nobility to our profession, and by so doing, we will strengthen and fortify the trust of our people, not only in lawyers, but in the justice system as a whole.”

Conti has received veiled threats through messages and menacing phone calls that she said affect the security and peace of her private life. Her appearance has also come under attack.

She admits that the attacks do get to her. “It does take a toll in the long run. It takes a great deal of mental fortitude to withstand that amount of hate,” she said.

She hopes the public will understand that lawyers are meant to serve the greater good and work for everyone’s benefit.

She observed that in many developing countries, lawyers are often perceived as corrupt or as enablers of inequality.

Conti shared how she became the target of an article by The Law Society of England and Wales and stressed the importance of the organization speaking out against such attacks.

Conti, who has been helping the victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, said the Law Society wrote to Philippine authorities expressing support for her and her work.

“It’s proof that lawyers around the world are banding together — an attack on one is an attack on all,” she said in the article, adding that the message from the international legal community could shame the government into taking action.

The rights lawyer thanked the group for featuring her situation and hoped what she went through would not be normalized anywhere.