a. Legal Education (See also RA 7662)

Legal Education (See also RA 7662)

Concept

Legal education is relevant to bar admission because Rule 138 requires an applicant to establish the prescribed law studies and coursework before being admitted to the bar examinations. The Legal Education Reform Act of 1993 is Republic Act No. 7662, but legal education and admission to practice are distinct matters. (Rule 138, Sec. 5, Rule 138 — Attorneys and Admission to Bar)¹ (Sec. 1, Rep. Act No. 7662)² (Pimentel v. Legal Education Board (Leb), G.R. No. 230642, 9 November 2021)³

Governing provisions

Section 5 of Rule 138 sets out the law-study and course-completion requirements for applicants covered by that section. Under amended Section 1, passing the bar examinations administered by the Supreme Court is required for admission to the bar. Amended Section 6 describes those examinations as qualifying licensure examinations testing basic knowledge and skills in law and ethics, as well as practice-readiness. (Rule 138, Sec. 5, Rule 138 — Attorneys and Admission to Bar)¹ (Rule 138, Sec. 1, A.M. No. 24-10-05-SC)⁴ (Rule 138, Sec. 6, A.M. No. 24-10-05-SC)⁵

Requisites / Rules

• Before admission to the examinations, an applicant covered by Section 5 must satisfactorily show four years of regular law study and successful completion of all prescribed courses in a law school or university officially approved and recognized by the Secretary of Education. (Rule 138, Sec. 5, Rule 138 — Attorneys and Admission to Bar)¹
• The applicant’s affidavit, accompanied by a certificate from the university or law school, is filed as evidence of those facts. The Court may require further evidence. (Rule 138, Sec. 5, Rule 138 — Attorneys and Admission to Bar)¹
• Section 5 also requires satisfactory completion, in a government-recognized law school or university, of civil law, commercial law, remedial law, criminal law, public and private international law, political law, labor and social legislation, medical jurisprudence, taxation, and legal ethics. (Rule 138, Sec. 5, Rule 138 — Attorneys and Admission to Bar)¹

Distinctions

A law school’s decision on whom to admit as a student is different from the determination of who may take the bar examinations. Institutional academic freedom protects the former; jurisdiction over the latter belongs exclusively to the Supreme Court. Completing legal education therefore does not itself confer admission to the bar. (Pimentel v. Legal Education Board (Leb))³ (Rule 138, Sec. 1, A.M. No. 24-10-05-SC)⁴

An older Section 6 of Rule 138 concerns a pre-law bachelor’s degree and a certificate presented before admission to the examinations. It should not be confused with Section 6 under A.M. No. 24-10-05-SC, which addresses the nature and governing principles of the bar examinations. (Rule 138, Sec. 6, Rule 138 — Attorneys and Admission to Bar)⁶ (Rule 138, Sec. 6, A.M. No. 24-10-05-SC)⁵

Key doctrines

In Pimentel v. Legal Education Board, the Supreme Court invalidated LEBMO No. 7-2016 in its entirety because its interdependent provisions established an exclusionary admission test that impermissibly infringed law schools’ academic freedom to decide whom to admit. The Court did not invalidate Republic Act No. 7662 in its entirety; the petitioners had not overcome the presumption of constitutionality of its subsisting provisions. (Pimentel v. Legal Education Board (Leb))³

Exceptions

Section 5 frames its law-study showing for applicants other than those referred to in the two preceding sections. That qualification should be kept in view when stating the rule; the provision does not present its first-paragraph requirement as applying without exception to every applicant. (Rule 138, Sec. 5, Rule 138 — Attorneys and Admission to Bar)¹

Bar tip

Separate three questions: whether the school may choose its students, whether the applicant has shown the required legal education, and whether the applicant may take the Supreme Court’s qualifying bar examinations. (Pimentel v. Legal Education Board (Leb))³ (Rule 138, Sec. 5, Rule 138 — Attorneys and Admission to Bar)¹ (Rule 138, Sec. 6, A.M. No. 24-10-05-SC)⁵