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—
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