The suspension of a lawyer from the practice of law is automatically lifted with the filing of his or her sworn statement of compliance and needs no confirmation from the Supreme Court (SC).
However, the SC warned that any finding or report contrary to the sworn statement of compliance filed by a suspended lawyer will be dealt with more severely or even disbarment.
“While the lifting of administrative suspensions has now been made faster and more efficient, this does not mean that the Court will be similarly liberal to those who would submit false certifications or otherwise exploit the process,” the SC stressed.
A clarification was sought by the SC’s Office of the Bar Confidant (OBC) based on one of the cases resolved by the High Court which stated that the suspension should be automatically lifted upon submission by the suspended lawyer of a sworn statement of service of suspension.
The OBC interpreted the SC’s pronouncement to mean that the automatic lifting of suspension still requires court confirmation.
The SC, in a resolution written by Associate Justice Rodil V. Zalameda, clarified that its confirmation is no longer needed to lift the order of suspension.
“Indeed, the intent underlying in the Court’s Decision in A.C. No. 11032 was to make the process of lifting disciplinary suspension from the practice of law efficient,” said the SC said.
It said that in A.C. No. 11032 it “acknowledged the burden and delay which accompanies the process of securing certifications from various courts and agencies attesting to the suspended lawyer’s desistance from practicing law during the period of suspension.”
Thus, it said a suspended lawyer no longer needs to await the processing and granting of certificates of compliance from courts and quasi-judicial agencies.
“As a necessary consequence of the automatic lifting of suspension, the resumption of the practice of law is likewise deemed automatic. There is nothing in A.C. No. 11032 which requires the Court’s confirmation before the suspension may be lifted or the practice of law allowed to resume,” it said.
“Lawyers should not be unduly deprived of the privilege and the benefits of practicing the profession once the objectives of the disciplinary sanction have been achieved by the lapse of the period of suspension,” it also said.
It asked the OBC to “carefully note and record the filings of such sworn statements of compliance.”