Gesmundo in his speech during the launching of the Legal Education Advancement Program (LEAP) on Thursday (Feb.24) said the academe shall support the Court’s efforts towards digital transformation, especially after the conclusion of the first ever localized and automated Bar Examinations.
“To sustain the momentum of this digital shift, the Court will pursue the conduct of all succeeding Bar Examinations in a computerized format, a long overdue innovation, to align with our Strategic Plan’s drive towards running all of the judiciary’s adjudicative and administrative systems digitally," he said.
The chief judiciary said he earnestly enlist the Legal Education Board, the Philippine Association of Law Schools, and the esteemed law deans to adopt the necessary change in policies and methodologies as the Court fully transitions to this new platform for administering the Bar Examinations.
He said the Court’s Strategic Plan for 2021-2026 entitled Justice Real Time espouses policy changes, capacity building, expanding meaningful access, and technological innovation.
Gesmundo said the higher court is suggest for a complementary remodeling of pedagogical tools, therefore, to maximize the students’ use of technology in their learning, to better equip law students with the adaptive skills to prepare them not only for a digitized Bar Examinations, but the digital world that they will practice law in.
He said there is a need to push for a fully functional, efficient, and ethical legal system by advancing the country’s legal education, a commitment he had categorically made short upon his assumption as Chief Justice last year.
As early as 2019, Gesmundo had underscored the country’s need to advance its legal education when he chaired the first ever Legal Education Summit (LES).
The Chief Justice said that the Supreme Court’s Technical Working Group on Implementing the Recommendations from the LES of 2019, chaired by Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando, has already commenced its work to propose revisions to Rule 138 of the Rules of Court.
Gesmundo also said that among these “exciting changes” to look forward to are changes on the requirements for admission to the Bar, under Rule 138, including the revisions of (a) examination subjects; (b) weight of the subjects; (c) schedule of Bar Examinations; (d) completion of certain mandatory courses for applicants to the Bar Examinations; and (e) the proposed methodology for administering the Bar Examinations; the institutionalization of a certification program for law students who have completed a given number of units, which will allow them to render a limited number of services; and the provision of a Bar Manual to make the examinations easier to administer, more streamlined, and consistent from year to year.
The Chief Justice also called for support from the academe on the Court’s planned National Legal Aid Summit to be held within this year or early next year. He also called for their involvement in the Court’s Campaign for Ethical Responsibility. He said that the Court has already commenced with the ongoing revision of the almost 35-year-old Code of Professional Responsibility, which will culminate in a National Summit on Ethical Responsibility in the last quarter of this year.
Chief Justice Gesmundo commended the LEB for its program launch, saying that LEB and the University of the Philippines Law Center led the country in “’taking the LEAP’ for legal education.”
For his part, Hernando who is also the Chairperson of Bar Reform Committee agreed to Gesmundo's statement saying the newly-minted legal professionals would become productive players and attuned to the needs of society from the outset.
"We obviously need to look forward by coupling our academic focus with the realities of active practice. I see this plainly in the LEAP," Hernando said.
Hernando also commended the LEAP as it “covers the crucial corners of legal education advancement.”
A collaborative endeavor of LEB and UP, LEAP is an amalgamation of reform initiatives in teaching and learning the law, legal scholarship, and the administration of legal education in the country. It seeks to ensure that the legal education system is ready to adapt not only to the continuing pressures of present-day challenges facing society, but also to the rapid technological advancement in teaching and the evolving issues, trends, and concerns in the study of law.
The LEAP focuses on six target areas: 1) the Model Law Curriculum Revision; 2) Policy Reform, which includes identifying Centers of Excellence and formulating a regulatory framework for government-run law schools; 3) Knowledge, under which LEB will undertake a Bar Examination Performance Study and a Mental Health Study; 4) Access, which includes establishing a Foundational Law Teaching Certification Program; 5) Stakeholder Conferences; and, 6) Digital Adaptation, which includes development of a Management Information System and a Learning Management System.
LEB Chairperson Anna Marie Melanie B. Trinidad showed appreciation for the Judiciary, stressing that “we have a Supreme Court that is heavily invested in legal education.”
The LEAP will benefit the 127 law schools nationwide and will tap the technical and professional expertise of legal scholars and academicians, practitioners, and legal researchers.
The 2022 Bar Examinations will be chaired by Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa.
Photo from SC-PIO Twitter
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