Law schools hailed for providing legal aid to poor during pandemic
PHILIPPINE law schools that accorded free legal advice to the underprivileged and helped improve their access to justice during the pandemic were recently honored.
The Legal Education Board (LEB) awarded the said schools during the first Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) Summit held in Taguig City.
The top awardee of the first CLEP Frontliners’ Awards was Mindanao State University (MSU), which received the “Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo Virtual Legal Advocate Award” for the most adaptive use of technology in giving legal-aid and clinic services to the community.
The distinction cited MSU’S initiative to build the Sarimanok Virtual Law Clinic, which extended free online legal services in the Bangsamoro Region. Chief Justice Gesmundo himself handed the award to the university.
Meanwhile, Saint Louis University was conferred the “Community Advocate Award” for serving the most number of indigent clients—a total of 1,200—across the Cordillera Administrative Region. It also received the “Pioneer Law School Clinic Award,” as alumnus Elijah Roland A. Cosalan was honored with the “Pioneer Law Student Practitioner Award.”
Cagayan State University was bestowed the “Solidarity Award” for its inspiring dedication to implement clinical legal education, and its contribution to access to justice despite adversities and challenges. The award, reserved for small or disadvantaged law schools, recognizes that despite the small budget for the law school clinic, the said university stayed true to its CLEP commitment.
Rizal Memorial Colleges received the “Breaking New Ground Award” for its efforts in providing legal-aid services to the Manobo tribe in Eastern Mindanao. It recognized new and innovative uses of clinical legal education in providing community services and access to justice.
Other awardees were Ateneo de Naga University with a special citation for assisting distressed overseas Filipino workers trafficked in Syria, and the San Sebastian College-recoletos which received the “Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin Award” for Pioneer CLEP Pedagogy.
The CLEP Awards is part of the LEB’S support in the implementation of the Supreme Court’s law-student practice rule, which required law students to enroll in law-school clinics to assist poor and indigent Filipinos.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh headed the awards’ selection committee, composed of Regional Trial Court judges Karla Funtilla-abugan and Rigor Pascual.
Solid, collaborative partnerships
THE Asia Foundation (TAF), meanwhile, hailed the Supreme Court’s leadership in creating a broad network of fully operational law clinics in the country, and enhancing the capacity of law schools to render legal-aid services.
The development and adoption of the Revised Law Student Practice Rule enabling CLEP was “an inspired decision that will continue to have positive impacts for decades to come,” said Country Representative Sam Chittick.
“There have been significant, fundamental changes in the way the country organizes and prioritizes legal education, [with] so many improvements,” added Chittick. “For the past five years, we have been able to contribute to these improvements—through solid and collaborative partnerships with legal education stakeholders in the judiciary—to improve clinical legal education, thereby [upping] the quality of graduates, and the availability of legal services around the country.”
The country representative has visited some of the law schools around the Philippines that have implemented CLEP, and hailed their commitment to ensure law students get an education “which is not just preparing them for an exam, but [for them to become] lawyers who are ethical, socially responsible, and…work for the good of all.”
Chittick went on: “To see the way the partner-law schools are interpreting and building their own clinical legaleducation programs for their communities, and finding ways to increase access to justice for those Filipinos who most need it, is most heartening. I look forward to seeing how these continue to grow and evolve.”
He added it is fitting that the first CLEP Summit follows the recent release of the Supreme Court’s five-year strategic plan: “Justice Real Time: A Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027.” It cements the CLEP’S value by committing to the program’s institutionalization in all law schools, while reinforcing legal-aid projects.
Chief Justice Gesmundo, who delivered the keynote at the summit, said the public’s access to justice has increased, while the marginalized sector has been assured a place in society through the CLEP: “Indeed, through the [program], we have increased access to justice, and given the poor and marginalized sectors of society an assured place in our judicial system.”
LEB, the government agency responsible for the supervision of legal education in the Philippines, implemented its full integration through the Revised Model Law Curriculum.
TAF implemented a five-year legalaid project: “Strengthening Rule of Law through Legal-aid Clinics in the Philippines” to support the reform roll out. All 124 law schools are mandated to establish and operate a law clinic under a CLEP.
CLEP is also a requisite for the 2023 Bar examinations. Students graduating in 2023 and are taking next year’s exams should have completed CLEP and rendered legal-aid service under their school’s law clinic or externship program to qualify.