Thursday, April 2, 2009

New lawyers

The Supreme Court will release the results of the 2008 Bar examinations on April 3, 2009.

Justice Dante O. Tinga was the Chairperson of the 2008 Committee on Bar Examinations.

The results can be viewed simultaneously at sc.judiciary.gov.ph, the official website of the High Court.

A total of record 6,364 law graduates from 109 law schools nationwide took and finished the exams held in September, 2008 at the De La Salle University in Manila.

The Rules of Court provide that “a candidate may be deemed to have passed his examination successfully if he has obtained a general average of 75% in all subjects without falling below 50% in any subject.”

In determining the average, subjects in the examinations are given the following relative weights:

Political and International Law, 15%; Labor and Social Legislation, 10%; Civil Law, 15%; Taxation, 10%; Mercantile Law, 15%; Criminal Law, 10%; Remedial Law, 20%; and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, 5%, for a total of 100%.


The following are the statistics on the Bar exams results for the past eight years:

Year Total Number of Examinees Total Number of Those Who Passed Percentage

2007 5,626 1,289 22.91
2006 6,187 1,893 30.60%
2005 5,607 1,526 27.22%
2004 5,249 1,659 31.61%
2003 5,349 1,108 20.71%
2002 4,659 917 19.68%
2001 3,849 1,266 32.89%
2000 4,698 979 20.84%


Source : Supreme Court website