Best LAW SCHOOL in the Philippines

The 2007 Bar Results hoopla is over and so lawyers and non-lawyers-yet again wake up to the grind of daily life. I’m sure many lives change after every year’s bar results—passers and non-passers alike. This year of course, Atty. Malimban might already be basking in the glory of his bar success. More than anybody else, he deserves all the glory after emerging as a dark horse from an emerging law school from the north. Considering his humble roots, he has inspired many youth to become part of the coveted bar.

For those graduating from their baccalaureate degrees this year and are entertaining the options of taking up law, I think the search for the best law school is crucial in defining ones future success in the bar exams. Many things need to be considered such as personal preferences, family background and finances.

I should say without bias that the best place to train for lawyering in the big City (Manila area) is UP College of Law and Ateneo Law School.

For those coming from humble roots, making the cut in the UP College of Law is really a privilege. You get the best education with lesser expense. I’m not sure how it goes at present considering the approved 300% tuition fee increase across the UP academe. But I’m sure the socialized tuition scheme will benefit those who really deserve tuition subsidies. But more than anything else, UP is one of the best places to be because one does not just train under the best professors and experts in the field, one also get to mingle with the country’s brightest students. But this is overgeneralization of course. Some brilliant students don’t make the final cut in the UP screening scheme just because they don’t seem to have the “it” that panelists prefer or as some rumors have it, don’t have the fingers to do the walking for them.(Hope you get what I mean)

As for Ateneo Law School, it is unquestionable that they also have the country’s brightest students coming from “filthy rich”, “not so filthy-rich” and “middle class” families to support their schooling. With Ateneo, one earns the network and connection plus, Ateneo boasts of an exclusive bar operations support. With THE Ateneo, ones name carries a “tradition” of refinement and class that one does not get from other schools.

With UP, one calls it street savvy. With Ateneo, its corporate savvy.

Coming close to this tradition of excellence is San Beda College of Law. Just like St. Benedicts dictum “ora et labora” (work and prayer), a Bedan Law Student practically bleeds with study, memorizing provisions verbatim (most Bedan Professors requires so). I should say San Beda instills the best discipline with its strictly insular pedagogy. Its is no wonder that San Beda can sharpen even the most average of minds but possessing of will and determination to withstand pressure. Tuition Fee also costs lesser (I think by 50%) than Ateneo’s. San Beda also offers Entrance Scholarships to those having Latin Honors.

To the exclusion of good provincial schools (like Ateneo de Davao, San Carlos University who have consistently high batting averages in the bar) the next law schools from Metro Manila that come to mind are Arellano University School of Law, University of Santo Tomas, Far Eastern University, San Sebastian Recoletos Manila, University of Perpetual Help, and University of the East.

Probably, the next law school having a good batting average is Arellano. If one hopes to pass the bar, one gets a good 1:1 ratio of passers and non passers. It has a good faculty and a lively community plus monthly beer parties they call “lager night”. (Lager is German for beer). Its budding bar operations is also very promising. The catch is, Arellano charges just a little less than Ateneo and around 50% more than San Beda. What’s good is that they offer entrance scholarships and performance-based academic scholarships. If one intends to be a working law student, Arellano is a good place. They have executive (weekends) and summer classes. So catching up will never be a problem.

UST also has the best law faulty. It boasts of an academic tradition dating back from the era of Jose Rizal. Discipline is mostly akin to San Beda although a little less stringent. Of course, I think it is the only Metro Manila law school that has the distinct black and white uniform. Come to think of it, it’s a little cumbersome to think of clothes with all the stringent study so a uniform should be a welcome idea in law schools. Although it has performed well, UST is overshadowed by San Beda because of its lower batting bar average. So if one does not come from a “Tomasian” family, students really opt for the latter school.

Anyhow, choosing the best law shool is still a personal choice.