Thousands of law graduates faced the first day of the 2022 Bar exams this month. The first day of the 2022 Bar exams went "well and smoothly," as Bar Chairperson Benjamin Caguioa emphasized. 5,847 people will take the exams for the first time, while 3,974 will be taking them twice or more.
The National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) challenged the bar examinees to "go beyond personal ambition and financial gains" to provide legal help to 80 percent without legal assistance.
In a statement, the NUPL said the Philippines needs now, more than ever, lawyers who can serve those without access to legal assistance..
The World Justice Project said only 20 percent of Filipinos have been able to access legal help while leaving 80 percent without legal assistance.
Thomson Reuters Foundation announced that 72 percent of the 20 percent sought legal assistance from friends and family, 15 percent from lawyers, and 13 percent from institutions.
Last April, lawyer Gideon Peña said on Twitter that compared to the United States, where there is one lawyer for every 240 people, there is only one lawyer for every 2,500 people in the Philippines, stressing that the number of lawyers in the Philippines is less than ideal, Inquirer reported.
Lawyer Jemy Gatdula cited that while there are 40,000 living lawyers as of 2016, “people have to understand that most of those will not be engaged in traditional law practice” as “many will work in corporations, either as counsel or as part of management.”
“Still many more will be engaged in private business, politics, or the academe,” Gatdula explained.
The actual number of lawyers that people can choose to handle their litigation or legal needs is thus understandably far lesser than what most people think.
As 9,207 recent law graduates survived the first day of the bar exams on Wednesday, Nov. 9, the NUPL expressed its hope that they will always keep in mind the need for lawyers "capable of recognizing and acknowledging the injustices constantly taking place around us."
Meanwhile, the #BestBarEver for 2020 and 2021, which was postponed for two years due to the COVID-19 crisis, was just held last February, and 11,402 graduates accepted the challenge of taking one of the toughest exams in the Philippines. The bar exams this month are the second this year.
Data from the Office of the Bar Confidant shows that 10,074 applications were originally approved, and then 10,006 took part in venue selection and were assigned to the 14 local testing centers (LTCs).
However, last November 8, the Supreme Court (SC) said that only 9,821 exam takers were expected.
The SC said the attendance rate for the first day of the #GetThatBar2022 was 92.01 percent as 9,207 were present while 799 were absent.
The following days of the bar examinations this year are November 13, 16, and 20. 5,847 people will take the exams for the first time, as per the SC, while 3,974 will be taking twice or more.
On the first day of the exams, questions covered political law and international law as well as relevant tax and labor law principles. The second day will be focussed to criminal law and commercial law, the third on civil law I and civil law II, and the last day will cover remedial law I, remedial law II, and legal ethics.
San Beda University had the highest attendance rate among the 14 LTCs designated by the SC, at 96.50 percent, with 579 of the 600 examinees present.
Ateneo de Manila University had the lowest attendance rate, with 296 of the 2,529 expected exam takers not showing up.
The first day of the 2022 Bar exams went "well and smoothly," Associate Justice and Bar Chairperson Benjamin Caguioa emphasized.
Caguioa asked everyone to continue adhering to health protocols as he showed he was very pleased on the first exam day and that he hopes for the same results in the remaining days of the exams.
In addition, NUPL expressed best wishes and congratulations to the law graduates who took the examinations. NUPL president, lawyer Ephraim Cortez, hoped that their message could “attenuate the pressures that surely came with the many years of study and training that brought you to this moment.”
It reminded the examinees to “always remember that the Bar exams is only a test, like most others, prestigious though it may be, this exam will not define you either as individuals or as lawyers.”
Tags: #BarExam, #FutureLawyers, #NUPL