Legal education in the Philippines

History

The University of Santo Tomas established its Faculties of Canon Law and Civil Law in 1733. From 1734 to 1800, of only 3,360 students, only 29 graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law, 8 with the degree of Licentiate in Civil Law and 3 with the degree of Doctor of Civil Law in that university.

In 1899, after the Malolos Constitution was ratified, the Universidad Literia de Filipinas was established in Malolos, Bulacan. It offered Law as well as Medicine, Surgery and Notary Public. In 1899, Felipe Calderón founded the Escuela de Derecho de Manila and adopted the name Manila Law College in 1924. The University of the Philippines opened its College of Law in 1910. There were around 50 Filipino and American students. Justice Sherman Moreland of the Supreme Court of the Philippines was named its first Dean, but after he ultimately declined the position, he was replaced by George A. Malcolm, who is recognized as the college's first permanent dean.

Legal Systems

The Philippine legal system is an amalgamation of the world's major systems. These systems include the Roman civil law which was inherited from Spain; the Anglo-American common law which were derived from the laws of the United States; and Islamic law otherwise known as the Shariah law of the Muslim world.

Law degree programs

Law degrees in the Philippines may be classified into three types—professional, graduate level, and honorary.

Professional law degrees

In order to be eligible to take the bar examinations, one must complete one of the two professional degrees: The Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) program or the Juris Doctor (J.D.) program. Advanced degrees are offered by some law schools, but are not requirements for admission to the practice of law in the Philippines.

University of St. La Salle in Bacolod city is also offering a J.D. program. Centro Escolar University School of Law and Jurisprudence offers J.D. program in their Makati campus.

Graduate law degrees

Beyond the J.D. or LL.B., members of the Philippine bar have the option of pursuing graduate degrees in law.

Honorary law degrees

Some Philippine universities also confer the honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree. It is given to famous individuals who, in the discretion of the awarding institution, were found to have made significant contributions to a certain field, or to the improvement of society or development of the conditions of mankind in general. Honorary law doctorates in the past include:

Practicality

While advanced law degrees (LL.M., D.C.L., S.J.D., LL.D.) may elevate a lawyer's standing in academic settings, the basic law degree (LL.B., J.D.) remains the most important academic qualification to be admitted to the practice of law in the Philippines.

Ecclesiastical law degrees

A few Roman Catholic seminaries and graduate schools offer degree programs in canon law, an ecclesiastical program that is not required in the Philippine Bar Examinations.The University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Canon Law runs the oldest academic programs of this kind. Its Licentiate of Canon Law (J.C.L.) and Doctor of Canon Law (J.C.D.) programs are open to priests, nuns, theologians, and even to lay people (i.e., trial court judges, law deans, family lawyers etc.). Judges of the Roman Catholic Marriage Tribunal typically hold academic degrees in the field. Degrees in canon law, strictly speaking, are not considered law degrees in the Philippines.

Developments

There is a move among members of the Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) to convert their LL.B. programs into J.D. curricula. There are currently two possible directions for the change: First, the conversion of LL.B. programs through adopting a model substantially similar to the J.D. curriculum introduced by the Ateneo de Manila Law School (the J.D. Programs of the FEU-La Salle consortium and the University of Batangas Law School are of this mold), and second, simply changing the name of the degree conferred from "LL.B." to "J.D." while essentially retaining the same course offerings as those in the DECS Model Law Curriculum (DECS Order No. 27, series of 1989).

Admission to the practice of law

The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines has given the Supreme Court the sole power to admit individuals to the practice of law in the Philippines. This power is exercised through a Bar Examination Committee, an ad hoc academic group tasked to formulate questions, administer proceedings, grade examinations, rank candidates, and release the results of the Philippine Bar Examination.

To be eligible to take the national bar exam, a candidate must be a Filipino citizen, at least twenty-one years of age, and holder of a bachelor's degree and a law degree obtained from a government recognized law school in the Philippines. Graduates of law schools from other countries must obtain a law degree from the Philippines to qualify for the Philippine Bar. In March 2010 the Supreme court issued Bar matter 1153 allowing Filipino who are foreign law graduates to take the Bar exam provided that applicant complies with the following conditions: a) completion of all courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Laws or its equivalent degree; (b) recognition or accreditation of the law school by the proper authority; and (c) completion of all fourth year subjects in the Bachelor of Laws academic program in a law school duly recognized by the Philippine Government d) must have completed a separate bachelor's degree."

Philippine Bar Examinations

The Philippine Bar Examinations is the national licensure exam for admission to the practice of law. It is conducted during the four Sundays of September, or October, or November of every year. It is arguably the hardest and the most media-covered of all government licensure examinations in the country. It is also reputedly one of the hardest bar examinations in the world.

For candidates intending to practice Islamic law in the Philippines, the Special Bar Exams for Shari’a Court Lawyers is given every two years. The Supreme Court Bar Office conducts the exam while the Office of Muslim Affairs determines the qualification and eligibility of candidates to the exams.

Attorneys-at-law

To be a full-fledged lawyer in the Philippines and be eligible to use the title Attorney, a candidate must graduate from a Philippine law school, take and pass the Philippine Bar Examinations, take the Attorney's Oath, and sign his name in the Rolls of Attorneys of the Supreme Court.

The full names of lawyers are found in the Rolls of Attorneys of the Supreme Court, and in a similar list included in a Supreme Court publication entitled Law List.

Legal Education Board

The Legal Education Board supervises all law schools and continuing legal education providers in the Philippines. The Board is headed by a Chairman who is a retired justice of a collegiate court (i.e., Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals, etc.). Regular members of the Board include a representative from each of the following:

The Board has made legal reforms which include—the stricter selection of law students and law professors; improvements in quality of instruction and facilities of law schools; provisions for legal apprenticeship of law students; and the requirement of attendance to continuing legal education seminars for practicing attorneys.

Mandatory Continuing Legal Education

Lawyers with names appearing in the Rolls of Attorneys of the Supreme Court, unless disbarred, are all members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).

However, to be IBP members of good standing, lawyers are required to complete, every three years, at least thirty-six hours of continuing legal education seminars approved by the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Committee (MCLE). Members who fail to comply shall pay a non-compliance fee, and shall be listed as a delinquent member.

The Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Office, established by the Supreme Court, is the official government agency tasked to implement compliance with the MCLE requirement.

The MCLE Office is headed by former Supreme Court Justice Carolina C. Grino-Aquino, widow of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Ramon Aquino. Its office is located at the fourth floor of the IBP Building in Ortigas Center.

Philippine law schools

There are one-hundred-five (105) law schools legitimately operating throughout the Philippines. These include independent law schools, resident colleges, and affiliated units of much larger private and public universities:

Oldest law schools

The fifteen oldest law schools are as follows:

Bar passing rate

The bar passing rate is the proportion of successful bar exam passers in relation to the total number of bar exam takers coming from a particular law school. The national bar passing rate (proportion of all bar exam passers in relation to all bar exam takers) changes every year, and has gone from an all-time high of 75.17% in 1954 to an all-time low of 16.59% in 1999.

The Legal Education Board's ranking for top ten law schools in the Philippines is based on the passing rate from 2001 to 2010:

Excellence in Legal Education (top five)

1. Ateneo de Manila Law School (89.03)
2. San Beda College of Law (85.74)
3. University of the Philippines College of Law (79.84)
4. Ateneo de Davao College of Law (64.99)
5. University of San Carlos College of Law (61.23)

Outstanding Law Schools (rest of the top ten)

1. University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law (60.22)
2. Arellano University Law Foundation (42.90)
3. Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan College of Law (38.90)
4. Far Eastern University Institute of Law (33.14)
5. University of San Agustin College of Law (31.63)

Law schools with the highest average bar passing rates from 1996 to 2005 include:

Schools with more than 30 examinees:

Schools with 30 or less examinees:

In the 2006 bar examinations, Basilan State University's lone bar candidate passed, giving the school a 100% passing rate.

Bar topnotchers

Bar topnotchers are bar examinees who garnered the highest bar exam grades in a particular year. Every year, the Supreme Court releases the bar top ten list. The list contains the names of bar examinees who obtained the ten highest grades. It is possible for more than ten examinees to place in the top ten because numerical ties in the computation of grades usually occur.

Schools which have produced bar topnotchers (1st placers) include:

Two bar examinees topped the bar exams without graduating from any Philippine law school:

In the past, non-law school graduates were allowed to take the bar. However, the Revised Rules of Court and Supreme Court Circulars allow only Philippine law graduates to take the bar, necessarily excluding non-law graduates and foreign law graduates from taking part in the exercise.

Law schools with prestigious alumni

The quality of law schools is often measured by the prestige, influence, or wealth of famous law alumni.

Some of the law schools and their famous alumni include: