SC rule allows law students to serve in legal clinics

For law students to gain practical experience in litigation, the Supreme Court (SC) issued Revised Law Student Practice Rule that would now allow even third year Law students to serve in legal clinics.

SC Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin was joined by other justices in giving a copy of the Revised Rules to United States Ambassador Sung Kim at the SC Session Hall Wednesday afternoon.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin said the Revised Rule “will enable us to quicken the shift to experiential legal education to be adopted by our law schools.”

He also shared that the revision of the rules was initiated after a trip to the US last October 2018 wherein he led the Philippine delegation to study the US legal aid clinics, to observe how clinical education works and how it benefited the society.

The trip to the US was shouldered by the US Embassy to help enhance the legal education in the country.

The SC en Banc adopted and promulgated last June 25 the Revised Law Student Practice Rule. It is an amendment to the existing provisions of Rule 138-A of the Rules of Court.

It was presented during the 2019 Legal Education Summit last July 31 at the Manila Hotel. The Revised Rule states that a law student must now be certified to be able to engage in the limited practice of law. It will take effect at the start of the academic year 2020-2021.

Last July 23, the Court issued A.M. 19-03-24-SC Amendment of Rule 138 Section 5 in Relation to the Revision of Rule 138-A of the Rules of Court (Revision) which included a provision on admission of a Filipino citizen who graduated from a foreign school to take the Bar examination only upon submission to the Supreme Court of certain certifications. The amendment shall apply to applications starting with the 2023 Bar examinations.