Legal education in the Philippines is developed and offered by Philippine law schools, supervised

by the Legal Education Board. Previously, the Commission on Higher Educationsupervises the legal
education in the Philippines but was replaced by the Legal Education Board since 1993 after the
enactment of Republic Act No. 7662 or the Legal Education Reform Act of 1993.

History[edit]
The legal education in the Philippines was first introduced during the Spanish occupation when, in
1734, the University of Santo Tomas established the Faculty of Civil Law.[2] After the Malolos
Constitution was ratified, the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas was established by Joaquin Gonzales
in 1899; the said institution offered several courses including law. However, the Literaria's existence
was short lived as a result of the eruption of the Filipino-American conflict.[3] During the American
occupation, specifically in 1911, the University of the Philippines College of Law was established,
through the vision and efforts of George Malcolm. The said law institution continues to be the one of
the oldest state college of law in the country.[2]
The ratification of the 1935 Constitution paved the way for the establishment of law programs in
various private colleges and universities in Manila (schools, at that time, were required to acquire
license to operate from the Department of Public Instruction). At that time, there was hardly any kind
of supervision of law schools, especially for private institutions. The Faculty of Civil Law of
the University of Santo Tomas, the University of the Philippines–College of Law, the former Colegio
de Ateneo de Manila and the Philippine Law School were the leading law institutions during those
period. After World War II and in the contemporary time, more law schools were then established. [2]

Legal Education Board[edit]

The Legal Education Board supervises all law schools and continuing legal education providers in
the Philippines.[4] 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:[4]

 Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)

 Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS)
 Philippine Association of Law Professors (PALP)
 active law practitioners
 bona fide law students
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.[4]

Mandatory Continuing Legal Education[edit]

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).[5] 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.[6]
The Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Office, established by the Supreme Court, is the official
government agency tasked to implement compliance with the MCLE requirement. [6] 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.

Legal systems[edit]
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-Americancommon law which
were derived from the laws of the United States; and Islamic law otherwise known as the Shariah
law of the Muslim world, Private law and legal codes are substantially patterned after the civil law of
Spain, while the Public Law, including the Political law, is based on Anglo-American legal system.

Law degree programs[edit]

Law degree programs are considered professional/post-baccalaureate programs in the Philippines.
As such, admission to law schools requires the completion of a bachelor's degree, with a sufficient
number of credits or units in certain subject areas. Completion of a required course from a Philippine
law school constitutes the primary eligibility requirement in order to take the Philippine Bar
Examination, the national licensure examination as precursor to admission to the practice of law in
the country.
Legal education in the Philippines normally proceeds along the following route:

 Undergraduate education (usually 4 years)

 Passing the Philippine Law School Admission Test or PhilSAT [7]
 Law school (usually 4 years)
 Admission to the bar (usually by taking a Philippine bar exam)
 Legal practice and mandatory continuing legal education
Law degrees in the Philippines may be classified into three types—professional, graduate level, and
honorary.

Professional law degrees[edit]

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.

 Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) – The LL.B. is the most common law degree offered and conferred by
Philippine law schools. It is a standard four-year law program covering all bar exam subjects.
Almost all law schools follow a standard LL.B. curriculum, wherein students are exposed to the
required bar subjects. Other schools, like the University of the Philippines College of Law, allow
students to substitute electives for bar review subjects offered in the fourth year of study.[8]
 Juris Doctor (J.D.) - The J.D. degree was developed and first conferred in the Philippines by
the Ateneo Law School in 1991. The J.D. program is a four-year law program. Like the standard
LL.B. program, the J.D. curriculum covers the core subjects required for the bar examinations.
Unlike the LL.B., the Ateneo J.D. program requires students to finish the core bar subjects in
21/2 years, take elective subjects, undergo an apprenticeship, and prepare and defend a
thesis.[9] In the present, many of the law schools in the Philippines now offer the Juris Doctor
program instead of the LL.B or the Bachelors of Law program.
 Juris Doctor–Master of Business Administration, (J.D.-M.B.A.), – The J.D.-M.B.A.
program is a double degree program in law and management offered at the professional-
graduate level. It was introduced and is so far offered only by the La Salle-FEU MBA-JD
 Program, a consortium of Far Eastern University Institute of Law and De La Salle Graduate
School of Business. Under this program, the requirements of the J.D. and M.B.A. programs
are satisfied by the taking of concurrent units of study, allowing students to complete the
program in five instead of six years.[8]
Graduate law degrees[edit]
Beyond the J.D. or LL.B., members of the Philippine bar have the option of pursuing graduate
degrees in law.

 Master of Laws (LL.M.) – The LL.M. is a graduate law degree offered to holders of basic law
degrees (LL.B. and J.D.). It is generally offered to law graduates and lawyers of any nationality.
Six Philippine law schools so far conduct the program—the Ateneo Law School, which offers an
International Master of Laws program; the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law, which
first offered the LL.M.; San Sebastian College - Recoletos Graduate School of Law; University of
Manila College of Law; Manuel L. Quezon UniversityCollege of Law; Central Philippine
University College of Law in Consortium with San Beda College; San Beda Graduate School of
Law; and PLM Graduate School of Law of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (University
of the City of Manila). LL.M. programs were once offered by the Far Eastern University Institute
of Law, the Escuela de Derecho de Manila (now Manila Law College Foundation), and
the University of the Philippines College of Law but were eventually phased out due to lack of
enrollment and funding.[8]
 Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) – The D.C.L. program is a doctoral program in law offered to
holders of the LL.M. degree. Candidates who hold only LL.B. degrees may be admitted upon
completion of prerequisite LL.M. subjects. The D.C.L. was pioneered by the University of Santo
Tomas Faculty of Civil Law. Their program structure is highly similar to the D.C.L. offered in
the Complutense University of Madrid.[10] The PLM Graduate School of Law has already opened
its own D.C.L. program.[11]
 Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D. or J.S.D.) – The S.J.D. or J.S.D. program is currently
offered only by the San Beda Graduate School of Law. While the candidate for the degree is
required some academic units, the grant of the degree relies on the candidates research output
as well as his or her participation in international symposia, seminars and programs as lecturer,
panel presenter or paper presenter. The candidate presents a doctoral dissertation that is
argued before a Panel of Oral Examiners and then delivers a 'lectio coram' -- a lecture in the
presence of legal luminaries.
Honorary law degrees[edit]
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.

Ecclesiastical law degrees[edit]

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. [12] Degrees in
canon law, strictly speaking, are not considered law degrees in the Philippines.

Developments[edit]
There is a move among members of the Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) to convert
their LL.B. programs into J.D. curricula.[9] 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).[9]

Admission to the practice of law[edit]

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.[13] 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. [14] 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:

1. completion of all courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Laws or its equivalent degree;
2. recognition or accreditation of the law school by the proper authority;
3. completion of all fourth year subjects in the Bachelor of Laws academic program in a law
school duly recognized by the Philippine Government; and
4. must have completed a separate bachelor's degree."
Bar examinations[edit]
See also: Philippine Bar Examination
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.[15] It is also reputedly one of the hardest bar examinations in the world. [16]
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. [17]