SC allows more law students in practice program

https://mb.com.ph/2019/07/16/sc-allows-more-law-students-in-practice-program/
Published July 16, 2019, 3:45 PM
by Francine Ciasico
By Rey Panaligan 

Starting next year, law students who have been certified to have completed
their first-year law courses can also engage in a limited practice of law under the
supervision of a lawyer.

The new rule is a modification of Rule 138-A which provides that a law
student “who has successfully completed his third year of the regular four-year
prescribed law curriculum… may appear without compensation in any civil,
criminal or administrative case before any trial court, tribunal, board or officer, to
represent indigent clients accepted by the legal clinic of the law school.”

The new rule on law student practice for those who have finished their first-
year law courses was approved by the Supreme Court (SC) as a full court during
its session last June 25. Details of the new rule were released on Tuesday, July 16.

The SC said the amendment “ensures access to justice of the marginalized

sectors, enhances learning opportunities of law students by instilling in them the
value of legal professional social responsibility, and prepares them for the practice
of law.”

It also said the amendment “addresses the need to institutionalize clinical legal
education program in all law schools in order to enhance, improve, and streamline
law student practice, and regulate their limited practice of law.”

A release issued by the SC’s public information office (PIO) stated:

“Under the revised rule, a law student shall apply for and secure a Level 1 or 2
Certification, as the case may be, in order to be permitted to engage in any of the
activities under the Clinical Legal Education Program of a law school.

“The basic distinction between the two levels involve the minimum academic
requirement the law student has successfully completed: for Level 1 Certification
– first-year law courses, while for Level 2 Certification – third-year law courses.

“Level 1 is valid before all courts, quasi-judicial and administrative bodies

within the judicial region where the law school is located, whereas Level 2 is valid
before all courts, quasi-judicial and administrative bodies.

The PIO said the revised rule also enumerated which are considered
“unauthorized practice of law” with corresponding sanctions.

The revised rule “shall take effect at the start of the Academic Year 2020-
2021 following its publication in two newspapers of general circulation,” it also
said.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228242474_Learning_to_Think_Like_a_
Lawyer

https://www.justiceinitiative.org/uploads/4a241f3f-93e1-4544-a074-
def770720775/clinic_20070206.pdf