MANILA, Philippines — 2019 Bar passer Sarah Marie Gemanil-La Madrid did not make it to the Roll of Attorneys in her first try. She was then juggling being a mom to her first child, a law student reviewing and a newly designated local court worker.
There was little difference when she reviewed for the 2019 Bar exams: La Madrid was still juggling three things at once, but she was determined to finally be called an "attorney," a dream that once eluded her.
Related Stories
She admitted that she was not ready when she took the 2018 Bar exams. “I gave birth in June 2018, then I was appointed to a new work and needed to report by October,” she told Philstar.com in an online exchange.
This was barely a month before the Bar exams.
She had just transferred from working at the Department of Tourism to the Malabon Regional Trial Court as a legal researcher so she can be closer to her baby and her field of work.
“It was so difficult. There were days when I had to choose whether to be a mom, a student or an employee. Of course, being a mother always comes first,” she shared.
“During break time at work, instead of reading books, I would pump milk because I was—and still am—breastfeeding. During review on weekends, it’s the same scenario,” she added.
But her young son inspired her to push harder.
“I said to myself when I failed in 2019 that it would be sad that my baby and I would spend more time apart because I will again be reviewing,” she said.
“So this time, I said to myself that this is really the last so I can take care of him and I can provide a better future for him, if God will allow,” La Madrid added.
La Madrid obtained her law degree from Arellano University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from University of the Philippines Diliman.
‘Cheeseburger!’
And God willing, La Madrid made her dream come true.
She is one of the 2,103 lawyers the Philippines will soon welcome.
RELATED: FULL LIST: 2019 Bar exam results
For the release of the 2019 Bar exams results, the SC dispensed with the traditional posting of passers list in its compound in Manila due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead, Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Bar chair, told lawyer-hopefuls to stay at home and refer to the SC website for the list of successful takers.
La Madrid said she was at home with her family when she found out she passed the Bar exams.
“My judge sent me a message, ‘cheeseburger!’” egging her to celebrate.
“I could not believe it, I do not want to believe it until I saw it with my own eyes, my name on the list,” she said.
But the list of Bar passers uploaded on the SC website took too long to download, so her boss had to send her a screenshot.
“There it was #986.”
“After some hours, we jumped and jumped because we were so happy that finally, I got the dot to the ATTY,” La Madrid said.
‘Serve the people’
La Madrid said when she was first carving her path to becoming a lawyer, she wanted to serve in the corporate world.
But her stint at the Malabon RTC stirred her to another direction.
“I plan to continue working for the Judiciary. In any capacity that I can,” she said.
La Madrid said she will try litigation and become a defense attorney or a prosecutor.”
“I thought I wanted to give back, being a ‘Iskolar ng Bayan’ in college,” she added.