3,812 new lawyers told: Serve, don’t be served

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 4,000 new lawyers yesterday took their oath before Supreme Court justices and signed the Roll of Attorney at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, 2023 Bar chairman, extended his congratulations to the 3,812 Bar passers.

“My dear HernanDOIT passers, you have made it. And you have done it very well. Welcome to the scintillating side of the Bar,” Hernando said.

He also reminded the new lawyers that their title is “a mandate to serve and not to be served.”

“Your A-T-T-Y is a professional title. It is not a social rank. Being a lawyer does not make you more important than non-lawyers. It is never a license to lord over other professions,” Hernando said in his speech. “Consider your title as a continuing challenge for you to be a champion of social justice, altruistic freedom, unthreatened peace, equality to all and inequity to none.” 

Hernando also urged the new lawyers to be a “visible example of a follower of the law,” emphasizing that the law should never be adjusted for their sake.

This is the first time that the oath-taking and the signing of the Roll of Attorney were held in the same year the Bar examinations were conducted.

Results of the Bar exams were previously released the following year after the tests were administered.

The new lawyers also received the Certificate of Admission to the Bar.

“All of these have been in keeping with the Supreme Court’s Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovation 2022-2027, a five-year project of the SC, which aims to modernize the judiciary,” Hernando said.

This year’s Bar exams yielded a 36.77 passing rate, lower than last year’s 43.47.