Philippine legal education: Magsalin lecture

In his paper entitled MEETING THE CHALLENGES: PHILIPPINE LEGAL EDUCATION
IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT (March 14, 2004), Arellano Law Foundation College of Law Dean Mariano F. Magsalin Jr., cited “the need for a paradigm shift to force schools to embrace and implement major reforms to address the need to be, and remain, competitive”. This would include “structured innovations in the law curriculum and teaching methods” necessary for a law school to “relevant in the evolving global economy”.

He regretted that “in the Philippines, even as law schools realize the need to “get connected” and “globalize,” there are significant constraints posed by financial considerations, resistance to change and the parochial mindset”. Further, “the country’s civil law system entails the study of so many subjects covered by the bar examinations and has inhibited the introduction of “international” legal courses”.

He traced the seeds of legal education in the Philippines which were sown during the Spanish regime when, in 1734, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) established its Faculty of Civil Law. In 1911, the American civil government set up the first state law school at the University of the Philippines (UP). At present, according to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), there are 104 law schools operating in the country.

“Around 80% of the average law school population are working students who study at night being taught by mostly part time faculty, while the rest are enrolled in day or weekend classes”, Magsalin stated.

Most Philippine law schools subscribe to the “American law school teaching model”. English is the medium of instruction. Class attendance is compulsory. The “question and answer method and the case study system” are the most widely used.

He added: “The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) supervises law schools in the country. Graduates earn a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) or Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. Under CHED Resolution No. 038-2001 dated February 19, 2001, the degree of bachelor of laws with bar eligibility is equivalent to a relevant master’s degree”.

He described the Philippine bar examinations as a “much-heralded and touted academic gauntlet with which … the entire populace (is) held in thrall and the results of which continue to generate inordinate interest and importance”. They are held annually covering eight (8) subject areas required by the Supreme Court. Over the past ten years, “around 26% of the applicants have passed the annual bar examination and applying this gauge, a little over 15% of law schools are performing above par”, he stated.

The law schools that do well in the bar examinations “remain to be producers of higher percentages of passing rates and they share similar policies such as rigid admission/screening process, maintenance of high level of academic performance in their law subjects, adoption of a Quotient Point Index (QPI) to remain in the law school, hiring of Deans with pro-active hands-on management style, and infusion of financial resources to the law library to better equip the faculty and students with the mass of legal knowledge, data and materials to enhance their skills and aptitude in the field of law”, he added.

The study recommended that “the law curriculum/program be improved and developed so as to produce competent world-class lawyers with proper sense of ethical values in exercising their profession” and that “new policy standards on the law program take into account several major developments in the field of law during the past decade and the trend towards globalization of the practice of the profession”.

Magsalin was particularly proud of its Lawphil legal databse, developed by Arellano University School of Law (AUSL), “the only Philippine law school with a comprehensive legal database which is available for free on the Internet”.

He stressed that “course offerings should capture the interrelationships among the different disciplines”. He added: “As the saying goes, law does not exist in a vacuum. These other areas of study provide the tools to better understand how the law works in the real world. As may be necessary, the study of other disciplines may be included as a particular topic may require. For example, in the study of paternity in civil law or evidence, the subject of DNA testing may have to be integrated. Ergo, the re-shaping of the law curriculum is a foregone conclusion and the introduction of course offerings that will blend the other disciplines is inevitable”.