UPIE Alumnus and Ex-IE Instructor Now Also A Bar Eight-Placer
Did you know that a UP IE alumnus is now also a lawyer? And not just a lawyer but our IE alumnus placed eighth in the recent bar exam, one of three UP Law grads in the top 10!
He’s none other than Rhey David Daway, a 2006 IE graduate. After graduating magna cum laude, Rhey started immediately on his IE Masters program. At the same time, he accepted a teaching position at the IE & OR department. Rhey was a member of the IE faculty from 2006 to 2010, teaching various undergrad IE courses such as IE 27 (Probabilty and Statistics for Industrial Engineering), IE 143 (Stochastic Processes in Engineering), and IE 150 (Systems Evaluation). “I found teaching at the IE department while doing the MS IE coursework challenging yet fulfilling,” said Rhey. “I learned a lot from teaching undergraudate students and from writing my thesis under the guidance of Dr. Aura Matias.”
Rhey finally earned his MS in Industrial Engineering in April of 2010. Anyone else would probably have given himself a pat on the back – but Rhey wanted to try something different. He decided he now wanted to try his hand at “law”. “It was indeed a late and unexpected decision,” Rhey admitted. “The desire to take up law in 2010, right after I had finished my MSIE, was as much a surprise to me as it was to my parents and siblings.” He sheepishly added, “Before then, if you asked my parents, who incidentally were both lawyers, I was the least likely among the brood to follow in their footsteps. My dad was reluctant at first to give me his blessing when I told him that I wanted to take the Law Aptitude Exam, or LAE. He wanted me to just do a PhD in IE instead. I told him that I just wanted to try. There was a lot of uncertainty involved – I didn’t know whether I was going to pass the LAE, and should I pass, I didn’t know whether I was going to actually take up Law, and should I enrol in Law school, there was no certainty that I would finish, so on and so forth. It is only in hindsight that I can say for certain that it was the Lord God that pulled me in this direction, and that He is the One who is continuing to guide and enable me to hurdle the everyday challenge of being in the law profession.”
So Rhey Daway started law school in June of the same year. Once again, he became a full-time student and for the next four years devoted himself to the study of law, earning the degree of Juris doctor and graduating cum laude in 2014. Then Rhey spent the the next months reviewing for the October 2014 bar exam. We asked Rhey if he expected to place. “My fervent prayer was that I pass the bar exam, that was all. I wasn’t confident with my answers, especially in Commercial Law, which was one of the two subjects we were tested on during the third Sunday of the bar exams. The questions on this subject came from recent jurisprudence, which I had not been able to study thoroughly,” confessed Rhey.
“When the results came out last month, I was exhilarated,” Rhey admitted. And he gave all the credit to God. “I’m so thankful for the undeserved blessing He has bestowed upon me. He gave me more than I asked or expected. I know the Lord God had always been in control of my life; to Him be the glory!”
Rhey revealed that a lot of people were praying for him to pass the Bar – his family, his relatives, his church mates. They were all ecstatic after learning that Rhey had not only passed but also placed 8th. “My parents, siblings and I received a lot of well-wishes and congratulatory notes. Including from my UP law batch mates,” said Rhey.
The 2014 bar exam was unusually difficult. Only 1,126 passed out of 5,984 takers, for a passing rate of 18.8%. This was only the fourth time in the last 15 years that the passing rate was below 20% and was surpassed only by the lower passing rates of 16.6% in 1999 and 17.7% in 2012. Rhey isn’t certain how to explain the extremely low percentage of passers. “If I were to guess, it might be a combination of stricter examiners plus a lot more questions and sub-questions with not enough time to answer.”
And what’s next for our industrial engineer-cum-lawyer? Rhey answered, “Actually, I already started just this January as a legal assistant at the Sycip Law Offices. God willing, I intend to continue working there as a junior associate and learn as much as I can.” But our Atty. Daway has not yet decided which area of jurisprudence he’d like to concentrate on. “For the moment, I’m just trying to learn and absorb as much as I can with whatever assignment is given to me at Sycip Law.” And ten to fifteen years down the road? “Well, by then, I hope to be already established in my legal career, with my integrity intact and still dedicated to the service of the people for God’s glory.”
Rhey confirmed that he’s still a bachelor and still without attachments. “At the moment, I live in a condo unit close to Sycip Law and I only go home on the weekends. My schedule the last five years – four of them struggling through law school and the last year reviewing for the bar – was very tight with little or not time to relax and socialize, let alone find and develop a romantic relationship. The little time I had to myself I spent hanging out with friends or surfing the net. But now that’s over, I hope and pray to be able to find someone and eventually start a family. In God’s own time, of course.” Rhey certainly hopes that in ten to fifteen years, he would already have a family, with a loving and supportive wife, and children who will share his deep faith.
Does Rhey ever entertain the possibility that he could still use his industrial engineering education? “I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to make good use of my IE knowledge in my legal work,” Rhey answered.
The UPIE Alumni Association is indeed very proud to have a newly-minted lawyer in its alumni ranks. Especially someone like Rhey David Daway who was not only in the top 10 but also possesses a deep faith in the Almighty. May his tribe increase!
