GORDON, Denise M.

September 3, 2017

11780622 Legal Profession G01

What is legal profession?

The absence of the rule of law in a community will cause havoc and chaos. This in turn,
will make society crumble for order is disturbed. Indeed, individuals need to be governed by
laws in order to set the necessary conducts for everyone. Legal profession comes into picture for
the reason that in order to have a strong foundation for nation building, legal profession is
needed. Legal profession is a branch of the administration of justice whose main purpose is to
aid in the doing of justice according to law between state and the individual and between man
and man. (Villareal, 2002, p. 1).

History of legal profession

Spain served as the primary source of legal education in the Philippines. In addition, the
Indo-Malaysians influence is also evident in the Islamic laws of the Philippines. Notably, we
already have our own codified law- Code of Kalantiao, even before the Spanish rule in the
country (Villareal, 2002).

The establishment of Faculty of Civil Law at the University of Sto. Tomas in 1733
signalled the formal beginning of legal education in the Philippines. In 1898, Universidad Literia
Filipinas was established in Malolos, Bulacan which offered law and notary public courses and
later on moved to Tarlac. From then on, other law schools followed. UP College of Law was
established in 1910. Followed by Philippine Law School in 1915, University of Manila College
of Law in 1918, Manila Law School in 1924 formerly known as Escuela de Derecho de Manila,
Far Eastern University Institute of Law in 1934, Southern College of Law in 1935, Arellano Law
College in 1938, and Francisco Law School in 1940. In 1960, the pre-law requisite was increased
to a 4 year bachelors degree in arts and science and the law course to 4 years of legal studies. As
amended by Sec. 6 of Rule 138 of the Rules of Court. In 1989, Department of Education Culture
and Sports added legal profession, legal counselling, and problem areas in legal ethics as new
subjects in the new law curriculum. In 1993, RA 7662 or the Legal Education Act was enacted
and the Legal Education Board was created. In 2000, Mandatory Continuing Legal Education
(MCLE), requires bar members to pursue further studies in law and jurisprudence (Villareal,
2002).

What is the current state of legal profession in the Philippines in your opinion?