#testimonial dinner

[electronicsquid]

Roy Cohn talks to the guests at a testimonial dinner in his honor at the Hotel Astor

(Yale Joel. 1954)

[freddyfiddlesticks]

Look what I found buried in the back of a record store! For $10 I could have a triple-record set that is apparently worth a lot more lol. Only about 300 were released I think. It says $25 Donation which means that Friars Club members could purchase it with a donation. (Makes me wonder who first bought it and how it ended up for sale for 10 bucks??)

So many big names!!! Can't wait to hear what Milton Berle has to say...

[writingunderthestars]

i’m not a (good) writer, but father karel told me i gave a nice speech when he shook my hand after the toast!

kthxnbye.

[writingunderthestars]

ATTY.PBWG

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Evening. Thinking back, law school wasn’t a long time ago. So, Finishing the bar to passing it, still feels so surreal; Let alone achieving that 100% passing rate. People often ask me how our batch managed to do that. While I can’t tell you in detail how we did it, I can most definitely tell you who we did it for. We did it for you. We did it for everybody in this room; the Ateneo Community, Our Dean, our Professors and our Colleagues at the Lawschool, and our Families. You guys were that driving force that kept us going and this ADZU100% success is mainly your success too. Getting here wasn’t easy, it took everything I had in me and more. Law school was not easy. It was tiring, depressing at times, and not to mention it was physically, emotionally and mentally draining.

-I remember the times when I come home from a bad recits day, like when I got called for a case twice, only to tell the professor that I don’t know the answer, twice, and the irony of it all, the topic was on double jeopardy), and feeling really exhausted and frustrated that I skip dinner, sleep and wake up, study and act like nothing happened the next day.

-I remember the times when I had to skip sleep just to digest and write our cases, whine about how my hand hurts the next day but still manage to write answers to a long exam and get called for a recitation on said quiz. And somehow get a decent mark.

-I remember the midterm exam week where I was running on almost zero sleep and mainly on energy drinks, I was palpitating like crazy and I literally thought that will be the death of me. But lo and behold, it was not.

The road to the Bar is no different; it was tiring, depressing and draining but a hundred times over. It not only tested our knowledge about the law but also our emotional strength, the latter being the true determinant if one will make it or not. And the six-month review leading to the Bar was hell, to put it bluntly.

-I will never forget how I had to read a lot during the 6months of review. And I mean alottttt. Because there’s that constant fear that I may not cover everything.

-I will never forget how I had to do an overhaul with my body clock. I thrived on sleep, but for 6months of review, I would wake up around 4am just to get a jumpstart on things.

-I will never forget how I had to brave and finish NovemBAR without seeing and being with my family.  While everybody had the luxury of going home to Zamboanga or getting frequent visits, I on the other hand didn’t. Because my parents were back home in Sulu, they had to work to finance my BAR. But as my parents would always say, they were there in spirit! And to me, that was more than enough.  I understood and persevered.

I guess that’s one thing about us, law students, we as a group are strong and resilient without actually realizing it. For It takes a lot of courage, commitment and determination to face another day of recits with a professor who just grilled you the day before, to drown yourself in cases day in day out, to press on despite adversities, to rise from the ashes after being burnt out by the stress of it all, and to rise beyond expectations, hence ADZU100%.

And my passing the bar would not have been possible were it not for the Almighty Father up above, the support of The Ateneo Community, the Jesuits, Father Karel and Father Ed who whenever they see me, would always tell me that they are praying for me and my batch mates. It was reassuring to know that the Fathers had our backs. Thankyou Fathers.

1. To Our Dean Atty Castillo and Mam Rachel (who was my teacher in college), our Professors and the Lawschool Admin (Sir Franz, Mam Chat, Mam Giselle and Sarah), who tirelessly devoted their time and energy to not only teach and help us, but to mold us to be the Ignatian Lawyers that we ought to be.  Thankyou for guiding us throughout this journey.

2. To My Colleagues in the Law school (Atty. Kenny, Kaye, Val, Ate Charmaine and those who took the bar with us, thankyou for the tips and for reassuring us that everything’s going to be ok), to the school’s bar ops team, Thank you for your well wishes, the little notes you sent us, for taking time off and flying to Manila to assist us. Special mention to Kit and Melvin. And thankyou to Sarah, the BarOps’ lady boss. For always checking up on us. For the reminders, and all the things you did that were left unnoticed.

3. To “my personal bar ops team” (Atty Allen Escudero and Jaypee), thankyou for listening to me whine. Thankyou for the materials you lent and had made for me. Thank you for literally being one text away.

4. To my classmates and now paneros paneras. Thankyou for everything we’ve been during our law school days, up to the time we took the bar! All the clingy lunch/dinner dates and ban-ging moments, laro ng lahi Saturdays will always be my favorites. I would also like to thank my friends’ parents for being so nice to me whenever they visited Che, Atelkie and Megan. Special mention to Dr. Cabato, who on the night before the last bar Sunday, when almost everybody’s parents showed up, reminded me that my folks were with me in spirit. She doesn’t know how much that meant to me at the time, but now she does. Hehe, I am very grateful for the simple gesture Doctora.

5. To my partner in life and in crime (Lols) Louwynne, Thankyou for standing by behind the scenes, for cheering me on during the bar review whenever I complain about how tiring it got, for helping me with whatever you can, for flying to Manila to surprise me on my birthday (a day after the first bar Sunday, I needed that) and again, for flying to Manila on the last Sunday of the Bar, in my family’s stead. Thankyou for being my family, Doi.

6. Lastly, to my Family. To my sister, Atidibs. Thankyou for being patient with me. Thankyou for always being there and for always praying for me. To my mom and dad,  Thankyou for being supportive of me and my dreams. God knows how much it took for us to make it through this. Thankyou for all the sacrifices you had to make, for putting up with everything just so we make it to this accomplishment. This is your accomplishment, more than it is my own, Mom and dad.

And I’d like to address the last part of my speech to those who would be taking the bar after us, I know what our batch was able to pull off was quite an achievement, some of you may think it of it as “nakakapressure” but it is not. You can do more. You can always do more. Who knows, you could be the first Bar Topnotcher from ADZU Law. Rise to the Challenge.

The Road to the Bar was hell but it was hell worth it!!!

But don’t take my word for it, each bar experience is unique in itself, your bar wouldn’t be our bar. Your experience may or may not be the same with ours. You won’t be able to define what the bar is until you yourself have already experienced it. Wait for it! Because it is going to be legendary.

[writingunderthestars]

[jerrylevitch]

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis at a Friar’s Club Testimonial Dinner, April, 1951.