Philippine Leadership Crisis and the J.D.

Program
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By: Dean Cesar L. Villanueva

As one of the leading legal educational institutions in the Philippines, the Ateneo de Manila Law
School (ALS) has always kept faith with its Mission towards “the formation of men and
women not only skilled in the science and art of the law, but also imbued with a burning
passion for justice and the fervent desire to serve others.” has always kept faith with its
Mission towards “the formation of men and women not only skilled in the science and art of the law,
but also imbued with a burning passion for justice and the fervent desire to serve others.”

The past decades has seen the Law School at the forefront of legal and judicial scenes: its graduates
have constituted the ranks of the Judiciary from the Supreme Court to the lowest municipal trial
courts, and have become some of the leading public figures in both the public and private sectors. The
ALS Faculty today is constituted of the leading jurists, professors and writers, who do not only
participate in that great endeavor to mold the minds and hearts of Ateneo law students, but are at the
forefront of public issues, and in civic, business and private endeavors.

The foremost issue that therefore seem to beset the Law School is no longer on whether it is at the
top in the pursuit of excellence in legal education (although enhancing it remains a primary
responsibility), but more importantly in defining what is the true meaning of “being at the top” and
whether it should remain at that defined pinnacle.
Filipinos live today in a divided society, where poverty and corruption abound; the very moral and
cultural moorings of our nation seem to have given way to banality, opportunism, and often for the
majority of our people, the imperatives of merely surviving on a daily basis.

The Law School, founded in 1936 and celebrating its 70th Founding Anniversary in June of this year,
has always had its institutional history closely linked to our country’s history. Consequently, the Law
School and its graduates cannot insulate themselves and declare their innocence from the ills that
befall Philippine society. Considering that the country, as an independent Republic, has not fared well
and in fact has lagged behind its Asian neighbors, and seems of late to be in permanent crisis mode,
the more relevant question to be asked would then be: Has the Law School, as a leading legal
institution of the Republic, or the Ateneo lawyers who have become leaders in the public and private
sectors of Philippine society, failed in their mission to achieve a better Philippine society, or worse,
have they become witting or unwitting participants in what bewails our country? This may be the true
issue on leadership in these times of crises.

In the midst of poverty and privation, not only in terms of financial resources but in civic and political
values as well, the following questions have been asked in many a forum: By being the leading law
school in the country, and graduating some of the best legal minds each year, does the Ateneo Law
School really serve the greater need of Philippine society? By reason of their quality legal education
and passion for excellence, do Ateneo lawyers not end-up serving the causes of the rich and the
multinationals who are only the ones that can afford them? Is the Law School and its programs
relevant to what seems to be the financial, political and moral crises that are besetting Philippine
society? These to me would be the relevant issues of leadership that the Law School must ask of itself.
There is no doubt that the Law School, in its activities and its programs, must meet these issues.
Eighteen years (18) years ago, ALS took the pioneering stance of offering, after a difficult process of
getting approval from the Department of Education and Sport (DECS) and later from the CHED, the
first Juris Doctor (J.D.) Program, in the Philippines in lieu of the regular Bachelor of Laws
(LL.B.) degree. The ALS J.D. Program was, and continues to be, geared towards the best
possible training of law students to be effective lawyers in society, based on its main
components, thus: , in the Philippines in lieu of the regular Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree. The ALS
J.D. Program was, and continues to be, geared towards the best possible training of law students to
be effective lawyers in society, based on its main components, thus:
· Study of Core Law Subjects, with emphasis on legal and judicial ethics, which ensure that
Ateneo lawyers would have the intellectual skills to be effective advocates and defenders of ideals and
values;

· Elective Courses component to allow junior and senior law students to begin to focus on the
legal and social areas which would individually allow each of them to best realize the professional
mission they set out for themselves;

· Apprenticeship Program that would bring the Ateneo law student at the forefront of learning
and experience, by serving in government or public sector, or by spending time with accredited law
firms, and thereby bridging the gap between theory and practice; and

· Preparation and Defense of a J.D. Thesis on a subject of law which is considered novel, and
requires extensive discussion and analysis of legal principles and cases relevant to the thesis proposal,
and thereby enhancing the research skills of law students, and allowing them to work through difficult
legal issues and problems and coming out with practical solutions and recommendations.
By reason if its structure, the ALS J.D. Program continuous to evolve to meet the demands presented
by the changing times and continuous to demand from each law student “intellectual rigor in the
tradition of Jesuit education,” which means, to borrow from the ALS Mission statement, to have “a
thorough grasp of the nature and ends of law, the ability to express legal conviction in forceful oral
and written communication, and sensitivity to the role of law as an instrument of service towards
individuals and of social engineering.”
In 1987, when the Law School made its initial application with the DECS for the adoption of the J.D.
curriculum, then Dean Eduardo de los Angeles described the program in the following language:

The J.D. Curriculum is a rigid and enriched law curriculum which responds to the current needs of the
legal profession and the changing conditions of our society. Presently, the study of law does not
expose students to the practical aspects of law. It does not supplement Bar subjects with the study of
related special laws or rules and regulations of administrative agencies. It does not compel students to
undertake extensive research which is necessary in the handling of cases. It does not motivate
students to reach out and help the less fortunate members of society.

The J.D. Curriculum addresses these problems. It compels the students to finish all the core or Bar
subjects within 2-1/2 years. Thereafter, varied elective subjects are offered to complement the
student’s knowledge of the law, and if he desires, to specialize in a certain field of law . . . The elective
subjects will provide some degree of specialization and prepare a law student to actual practice. . . .
Through subjects like human rights, consumer protection and environmental law, the students are
immersed in the problems of indigents, the oppressed and society. These subjects will enable the
students to realize the gravity of the problems and make them commit to help the less fortunate in
our society.

The J.D. Curriculum has 81 units of core subjects, 48 units of elective, 19 units of perspective subjects
and 12 units of practicum and research. It is well- balanced and, as shown by the catalogue, meets
the DECS requirement of at least 155 units. By sheer load, it is a difficult course, but the school is
confident that it can produce more competent, committed and principled lawyers to better serve
clients and the country.

Today, the J.D. Program has as a major component the Apprenticeship Program, an integration of the
Clinical Legal Education (which allows senior students to appear in first level courts), into the Legal Aid
Program of the Law School, that formally puts together in a working relationship law students and Law
alumni to handle the cases of laborers, indigents and other marginalized members of society. There is
no doubt that there is a need to make the system more dynamic and encompassive, and we will
continue to do so.
The Ateneo Human Rights Center (AHRC) continues to be at the forefront of advocacy work for victims
of human rights violation and to champion the causes of women and children. Its internship program
has exposed law students to the plight of poor people, as well as the needs of our indigenous
brothers.
Members of the Law Faculty have also become key officers and professors to the Philippine Judicial
Academy (PHILJA), which undertakes the training of judges and justices and assist in the pursuit of
reforms in the Judiciary.
In public service, Ateneo lawyers continue to be leading components in the Executive, Legislative and
Judicial Departments, as well as in local government units across the country. Their training in Law
School makes them natural leaders in their chosen fields of endeavor.

In the private sector, the Ateneo lawyers are the forefront of advocacy and in bringing about an
upgrading of the commercial and business models and infrastructure, ranging from mediation and
alternative dispute resolution, reformation of capital market, corporate governance, cyberspace law, to
labor and other social legislations.

In civil society and the NGO fronts, Ateneo lawyers have become passionate and committed
advocates.

The Law School is expanding its clientele through the Center for Continuing Legal Education and
Research (CCLER), which not only provides lawyers compliance with the terms of the Mandatory
Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), but to offer seminars and courses covering contemporaneous
developments in the legal world.

The Law School is therefore essentially an institution that instructs and trains its law students into the
ways of what is perceived to be a Christian lawyer, but in the end it cannot recast individuals and
mold them into a fit; it can only, by instructions and by example, inspire them to be truly men and
women for others. If by being true Atenean lawyers they participate in the doing of what is good and
charitable, then their lives and those whom they touch are enriched. For Atenean lawyers who may fall
by the wayside, their training and experience in the Law School would, it is hoped, offer them a means
to rise up and then to proceed into the right path; otherwise, their training and experience in the Law
School would ensure to make every fall a truly bitter personal experience of great pain to their souls,
to give them a chance at any form of redemption; for it is for us sinners for whom Christ has come.

The demand for academic excellence and instilling of the passion for Truth and Justice are non-
negotiable components of the Mission of the Law School, and they constitute the “brain” of the Mission
of the Law School. Service to others and to one’s community, the very manifestation of the high ideals
of legal education, constitute the “heart” of that Mission. It is difficult to strike the fine balance
between the mind and the heart of the teaching of law, and often the demands of expediency, of the
temptation to achieve institutional recognition, and pressure of competition from other law schools,
tend to push the brain of the Mission to the forefront of consciousness and activities. But the Law
School will continue to seek that balance, because it is the meeting of that fine balance between the
heart and the mind of its Mission that constitute the very “soul” of the Law School.

- Second Part -
Today, there is a move among members of the Philippine Association of Law Schools (PALS) to convert
their Ll.B. programs into J.D. curricula. The movement is tending towards two directions: (a) one
towards adopting a model substantially similar, if not faithful, to the Ateneo Law School’s J.D.
curriculum (the J.D. Programs of the FEU-La Salle consortium and the University of Batangas Law
School are of this mold); and (b) the other movement (which seems to be in the majority voice) is
towards 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).

The logic of the second movement is that since the law degree is given only after completion of a four-
year post-college course, then like in the medical profession, lawyers should also be conferred not just
another college degree, but a doctorate degree. Likewise, it has been added that by converting the
designation of the law degree from “Ll.B.” to “J.D.”, without changing the essence of the course
offerings and the structures of the program, this would then follow the same format followed in the
United States when the same movement towards the J.D. degree was pursued, such that today there
is hardly any American law school that still grants the Ll.B. degree. We are not really certain how
accurate such historical account is, and there is no verification that the Ll.B. programs in the United
States then were similar to our own Ll.B. program (for it may happen that the American Ll.B. program
was very much similar to our current concept of a J.D. program).

It may be difficult for most Philippine law schools, especially those outside Metro Manila, to replicate
Ateneo’s J.D. program, because of the demands for specialized lecturers or authorities in elective
courses and the requirement for a J.D. thesis which would almost be insurmountable for a majority of
law students in the Philippines, who are mostly working students and/or who do not have access to
legal books, journals, and treatises. Even the administration of effective apprenticeship, clinical legal
education and legal aid programs would constitute both logistical and budgetary problem for most law
schools, many of which are operating at a loss.
In spite of the common perception that most law schools do not make money from their operations,
and most are subsidized by the other departments of a college or a university, there continues to be a
proliferation of law schools, and every year sees the setting-up of a number schools, especially in the
provinces, that the CHED actually issued a moratorium order. There are now on record more than 180
law schools in the country, and rising, judging from the applications now pending with the CHED. Why
is this the phenomenon, when it does not make much business sense to establish a law school?

Aside from the perceived prestige that it gives the offering institution, the existence of a law school in
a college or university is felt a response to the need to provide lawyers to the region or community
that the institution serves; and perhaps it is important for many educational institutions that the
community leaders and loudmouths, who are often from the legal profession, would come from and
owe their training and allegiance to the law school units they have. The need for lawyers, especially
good ones, will continue to be a phenomenon in our communities in the foreseeable future, and (may
I venture) beyond. Lawyers are important in any society, and in the pursuit of justice.

Under that premise, we in Ateneo feel that the path that should be followed in the movement from the
Ll.B. to the J.D. degree, as the standard degree for all Philippine lawyers in the short and long-term, is
one that is not in name only, but one that would follow the thrust of a J.D. program is intended
for, i.e., that it would not just teach the core subjects required under the DECS Model Law Curriculum,
but that it would provide training in both legal skills and research, all molded into the particular
development of each law school and towards enhancing its relations and cooperative ties with the
community where it exists. For example, under its J.D. program, a law school where most of its
students are working students, may require group work to cover research papers that would be
equivalent to the thesis program. In other law schools, the students can be organized to assist on
convenient time with the Public Attorneys Office (PAO) or the trial courts and any other agency
concerned with the dispensation of justice, as viable and actually more meaningful substitute for their
apprenticeship and legal aid programs. Another example would be that working students could
propose and then implement within their work places a project that would enhance their legal training
and skills to be credited as either the equivalent of a thesis and/or an apprenticeship, such as setting-
up the rules and the system within their places of work for cases involving sexual harassments.

In other words, each law school should be allowed as much leeway as possible to be able to adopt
substitute programs that would achieve the same ends of the J.D. program, to train and inspire law
students to become lawyers, possessed of reasonable good knowledge of the Law, but with the skills
and the proper attitude towards serving the legal needs of the entities and the communities where
they will eventually exercise their noble profession. In such a manner, each of the law schools in the
various islands and corners of our Republic, would then be serving a great need of our country, to
bring forth from their bosom “competent, committed and principled lawyers to better serve clients and
the country.”
—oOo—
How Prestigious Is The Juris Doctor?
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 24 June, 2014, 11:53am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 24 June, 2014, 11:53a
https://www.scmp.com/article/1539477/how-prestigious-juris-doctor
Cayleigh MaForbes
Legal education varies by country so while, for example, Australia recognises
the Bachelor of Law, in other places acknowledgement is also given to
the Juris Doctor - Hong Kong, Canada, and the US being some examples.
Navigating this murky sea of legal education can be challenging and with the
status and value of courses ever-changing, it's worth asking if the Juris Doctor
carries the same prestige as other qualifications such as the Bachelor of Law
(LLB) and Master of Law (LLM)?

The Juris Doctor, Hong Kong style is for non-law graduates who latterly
decide to study law. Like the LLB, it is a challenging, scholarly course with a
dissertation or thesis required. With both courses, further training in the form
of the PCLL plus traineeship or pupilage is required for solicitors and
barristers respectively. Due to the history of legal training in Hong Kong, there
is no significant difference in the amount of prestige awarded to each course
and the law profession in general is very highly respected. The JD is offered
by The University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, and Chinese
University of Hong Kong. For those looking to specialise further, the LLM is
the most prestigious course, but will only be required for the most senior
positions or for those with a keener interest in academia.

The confusion of the JD’s prestige arises with respect to other countries. For
example, in Australia, the LLB is the traditional and most common educational
pathway to law. The JD is less well understood and of the universities who
began offering the JD, many have retracted it and returned to teaching the
LLB. The reasons for this are manifold, but include discrepancy over the
status of the degree since it cannot be marketed as an Honours degree, but
neither can it be matched with a lower qualification. Of course it might be
possible for Australia to make space for the degree, like the Juris Doctor Hong
Kong, it could become a prestigious course; however, Australia currently
seems to see little reason to change their current LLB system.

The US and Canada have a different system and again this affects the status
awarded to the course in these countries. The US has been offering the JD as
one of its most popular law courses for many years and Canada now has a
very similar system. In the US, the JD alone is sufficient to get a licence to
practice law and the qualification is respected as such. The Doctor of
Jurisprudence in Singapore is highly respected too. Alongside the LLB, it
offers admission to Singapore's legal profession. A person can practice law
with this qualification, although if they wish to be admitted to the Singapore
bar, there are further qualifications that must be passed.

While the status and value of a Juris Doctor varies by country, those
interested in pursuing a Juris Doctor Hong Kong are best to focus on the
status here. The Juris Doctor offers an unrivalled flexibility for students with
various interests who have pursued or are pursuing a non-law Bachelors
Degree program. The quality of teaching and the academic rigor is equivalent.
In fact, those with a non-law degree and a JD have the advantage of having
another area of expertise upon which to draw in their careers.

Since tuition fees often run so high, students are often anxious to know that
they will have a good return on their investment. Those who wish to practice
law find that that they have many routes into the profession in Hong Kong.
Like doctors, lawyers and solicitors are very highly respected and students will
find little discrimination between courses, provided that every effort is taken to
meet one's learning potential.

*Image courtesy of Jeroen van Oostrom / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

First Juris Doctor (J.D.) Program in China
Peking University School of Transnational Law
Peking University School of Transnational Law (STL) offers a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree,
pursuant to a three-year full-time program based on a J.D. curriculum comparable to that
offered in the United States. The language of instruction is English. The program also
includes an elective fourth-year course, devoted to a survey of Chinese law, with instruction
in Mandarin Chinese. Courses in Chinese law are mainly open to students from Mainland
China or whose first language is Chinese.
Both curriculums emphasize lawyering skills and knowledge for the 21st century: (i)
transnational law and practice, (ii) cross-cultural competence, and (iii) the professional
responsibilities of lawyers in these contexts. No law school anywhere better equips
graduates for the private sector, public sector, or public interest legal work in China, the
United States, the United Kingdom, or British Commonwealth nations.

STL’s signature J.D./J.M. dual degree program is four years long. The J.D. curriculum,
which is taught entirely in English, is similar in content to the J.D. curriculums of the best
U.S. law schools, with additional depth in Chinese legal history and law. The J.M.
curriculum provides core Chinese law courses and is taught largely in Chinese. Most
Chinese students enroll in STL’s dual degree J.D./J.M. program; most international students
enroll in STL’s three-year J.D. program. Both curriculums emphasize lawyering skills and
knowledge for the 21st century: (i) transnational law and practice, (ii) cross-cultural
competence, and (iii) the professional responsibilities of lawyers in these contexts. No law
school anywhere better equips graduates for the private sector, public sector, or public
interest legal work in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, or British
Commonwealth nations.
The program consists of at least three quarters of full-time study in residence and a second
year for internships, continued study, or research projects at the student's discretion.
Although the degree is conferred at the end of two years, it is possible for residence to be
completed after one.

Juris Doctor (JD)

Singapore Management University
The Juris Doctor (J.D.) programme is a graduate programme that leads to the first degree in
law. It is designed for persons who hold undergraduate degrees in other disciplines and for
those who hold degrees in law from civil law countries. Many students have several years of
work experience. The programme is characterized by interactive (Socratic) teaching that
helps students develop analytical, problem-solving, interdisciplinary and comparative law
skills. These skills are essential for excelling in today’s highly competitive legal and
corporate environments. A rigorous curriculum is taught by an international faculty that
includes teachers with backgrounds in practice, government and the judiciary.
https://www.lawstudies.com/Juris-Doctor/Programs/?page=3