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Supreme Court justices

propose changes that
would streamline bar
exams
Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News
Posted at Jul 31 2019 09:58 PM

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Two Supreme Court justices on Wednesday agreed that the bar

exams should not be made especially diFcult for those who take
it. ! File/Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

MANILA—Two Supreme Court justices on

Wednesday promised a more “reasonable”
experience for those taking the bar examinations in
the next two years.

Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, chair of

the 2019 bar exams, and Associate Justice Marvic
Leonen, chair of the 2020 bar exams,
acknowledged this during the first Legal Education
Summit at Manila Hotel.

Bernabe promised to filter out “unfair trivia

questions” and those that “tend to mislead the
examinees,” based on her observation that the
perceived unpredictability of the bar exams has
tended to throw examinees “off balance.”

She said she will ensure that the questions are

spread out over various topics and that each
question is bound to a “standard acceptable
answer,” which the academic community can agree
on.

She added that she reviewed the bar exams

coverage in previous years and removed obsolete
topics and organized its presentation to come up
with a concise and a more relevant syllabi fit for
today’s needs.

“The examination itself is already physically and

mentally taxing. As such, the preparation should not
be compounded by the examinees’ fear of having to
read up on every available material on every
possible area of law, not to mention the vast
number of laws that we have in this country,” she
said.

“The bar exams should not be made intentionally

difficult for extraneous reasons. Institutional
measures should be set to ensure that the Bar
remains true to its purpose as the licensure exam
for the legal profession.”

To address concerns of fairness in checking the bar

exam booklets, Bernabe said she has proposed to
adopt the two-examiner-per-subject policy, noting
the growing number of exam takers each year.

In 2007, she said, there were only 5,626 candidates

compared to 8,158 who took last year’s exams. This
year, they are expecting a “staggering 9,000”
examinees.

“With two experts working and sharing the burden

for each bar subject, the consistency, efficiency and
thoroughness of the assessment can be
maximized, and the results can be released at a
much earlier time,” she explained.

COMPUTERIZED, PASS/FAIL 2020 BAR EXAMS?

Leonen agreed with Bernabe that the bar exams

should not be made especially difficult.

“Any intelligent, coherent justice will want the bar to

simply be a qualifying exam. It is not an exam to find
out the most brilliant of lawyers. It is only an exam
to add into our ranks those lawyers that deserve to
practice,” he said, saying the 2020 bar exams will
not be unreasonable but “very reasonable.”

“Mag-postpone na kayo, sa akin na kayo pumunta,”

he said in jest, drawing laughter from the crowd
composed mostly of law deans, faculty and law
students.

(Put off taking your bar exams and take it next year
under me.)

He said it is time that the high court rethink the

process of admission to the Bar.

He proposed three changes:

Introduce a simple pass/fail system;

Examine THE possibility of a computerized
examinations to make it possible to hold bar
exams in various areas and;
Immediately upload all bar questions and
suggested answers in previous years on the
Supreme Court website.

“I said propose. It depends on the collegial body

composed of 15 justices, who, I will tell you, are very
very supportive of what I say,” he teased the
audience.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin had earlier indicated

he prefers a simple pass or fail approach as part of
his 4-point reform agenda.

The Legal Education Summit itself was organized in

compliance with Bersamin’s reform agenda, hoping
to transform “knowledge-based” approach in legal
education to an “experiential process.”

“[T]he current approaches to Philippine legal

education were now possibly inadequate, or were
even outdated, and by all means needed to be
enhanced,” he said of his realization following a visit
to top law schools in the United States in October
last year.

The high tribunal recently amended the student

practice rule which now allows second year law
students to represent clients in a limited capacity
before administrative and quasi-judicial agencies.
Previously, only fourth year law students were
allowed to represent clients.

Clinical legal education, Leonen said, will now be

among the requirements for taking the 2022 bar
exams.

Save

Read More: Supreme Court Bar exams Estela Perlas-

Bernabe Marvic Leonen law school legal education

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