Bar examinees may get permits at SC building in Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Law graduates who will take this year’s Bar exams in November may now get their permits at the Supreme Court (SC) building in Manila, the Office of the Bar Confidant (OBC) announced yesterday.

OBC chief and deputy clerk of court Ma. Cristina Layusa said Bar examinee numbers 1 up to 5,000 may acquire their permits at the SC Court of Appeals multipurpose building on Padre Faura Street.

Those with Bar exam numbers above 5,000 are advised to call the OBC first at tels. 526-8122 and 525-7929 to confirm if their permits are ready for pickup.

Associate Justice Roberto Abad, chairman of this year’s Bar committee, said the exams will be held on four Sundays of November at the University of Sto. Tomas in Sampaloc, Manila.

The Bar exams held in September last year were marred by a grenade blast that left at least 50 people injured, mostly law students holding post-Bar festivities outside the De La Salle University in Taft Ave., Manila where the exams were held.

Earlier this year, the SC approved substantial changes in the conduct of the Bar exams, which will use for the first time multiple-choice questions to specifically measure the candidate’s knowledge of and ability to recall laws, doctrines and principles that every new lawyer needs in practice.

The exams would still use essay-type questions but it would no longer be subject specific, unlike in previous years.

“One such essay exam will require the candidate to prepare a trial memorandum or a decision based on a documented legal dispute. This essay will account for 60 percent of the exam’s essay portion. The remaining 40 percent will be covered by an essay which will require the Bar candidate to prepare a written opinion sought by a client concerning potential legal dispute facing him or her,” the OBC advisory said.

The coverage of the Bar exams will be drawn up by topics and sub-topics rather than simply stating the covered laws.

The new format, according to the OBC, would “assess the candidate’s understanding of the meaning and significance of those same laws and principles as they apply to specific situations.”

In computing the results, multiple-choice questions would be given a weight of 60 percent while essay-type exams would be 40 percent.

Layusa explained that since this is the first time the new format will be implemented, the answers of all examinees in the essay-type exams will be corrected irrespective of the results of the multiple-choice questions, which are known earlier because these will be checked electronically.

In future Bar exams, however, the Bar chair will recommend to the Court the disqualification of those whose grades in the multiple-choice questions are very low that it would serve no purpose to correct their answers in the essay-type exams, she added.