How to Become a Lawyer in the

Philippines: A Definitive Guide

Written by FilipiKnow   in Career and Education ,Juander How

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Last Updated on 12/06/2019

Do you want to become a lawyer?

You are certainly not alone.

Thousands of hopeful barristers regularly flock the annual Bar Examinations that the
Supreme Court of the Philippines offers every November. In 2018, a total of 8,158
candidates took the Bar Examinations and out of these, only 22.07% successfully
hurled the challenge.

What makes the law career so lucrative that people are willing to spend four, five, or
even six years of their life studying to be one? What does a lawyer exactly do? What
skills do prospective law students need to cultivate in order to survive law school?

Really, how does one become a lawyer?

This article will hopefully answer all of these questions and more.

Table of Contents
 What is a lawyer?
 How to Become a Lawyer in the Philippines: 6 Steps.
o 1. Cultivate the important skills and qualities required to study law.
 a. You need to be committed.
 b. You need to learn how to read and read fast.
  c. You need to know basic sentence construction.
 d. You need a proper study habit.
 e. You need to practice your handwriting ASAP.
o 2. Obtain a bachelor’s degree from a recognized college or university.
o 3. Take the Philippine Law School Admission Test (PhiLSAT).
o 4. Study law for four years in a recognized law school.
o 5. Take and pass the Bar Examinations.
 Bar Exam Requirements.
 Bar Exam Subjects.
 Bar Exam Passing Rate.
o 6. Take your oath and start practicing law.
 Frequently Asked Questions.
o 1. I’m in senior high school. Do I need to take a specific track to study law?
o 2. What is the best pre-law course in the Philippines?
o 3. Can foreigners enter law school?
o 4. What are the best law schools in the Philippines?
o 5. Is Juris Doctor a lawyer? What makes it different from the Bachelor of
Laws degree?
o 6. How many years does it take to be a lawyer in the Philippines?
o 7. Do I need to enroll in a review school for the Bar Examinations?
o 8. How do I prepare for the Bar Examinations?
o 9. I took the Bar Exams. What do I do now?
o 10. What if I fail the Bar Exams?
o 11. How much money do lawyers make?
 References.
 About the Author.

What is a lawyer?
You have watched Suits, Law and Order, and How to Get Away with Murder. You also
have seen on the big screen To Kill a Mockingbird, The Firm and My Cousin Vinny.

In the Philippines, you may have heard of famous attorneys such as revolutionary
hero Apolinario Mabini, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos, and
human rights lawyer Jose Diokno.

But what, exactly, is a lawyer and what does he do?

A lawyer, or attorney, is simply a person who is licensed to practice law.

The practice of law is varied. According to our very own Supreme Court, “the practice of
law means any activity, in or out of court, which requires the application of the law, legal
procedure, knowledge, training, and experience.”

This means that a lawyer can be a professor, a writer, a politician, a CEO, a Data
Protection Officer, or a notary public. There are in fact a lot more lawyers working out of
court rather than those practicing litigation in front of judges as popularized in TV.

One professor from a prominent law school in Manila said that the practice of law is like
a key that allows members of the Bar high-ranking access to almost any office in the job
market.
“Our life,” he said, “is a patchwork of laws, rules, and guidelines. From a person giving
birth to the probate of your last will and testament, we are constantly surrounded by
statutes. People will always need a lawyer to understand this always-changing mess.”

How to Become a Lawyer in the Philippines: 6

Steps.
1. Cultivate the important skills and qualities required to study
law.

Let’s say that you’re in high school and you want to become a lawyer. You want to
cultivate skills that will help you in law school and the Bar Examinations.

The following are the skills and mindset you need to have to survive law school:

a. You need to be committed.

Law school is not for the faint of heart.
The study of law is unlike your high school and college education. Most, if not all, law
professors practice the Socratic Method in their teaching which means that the law
students had to have read the assigned materials ahead of time and the professor will
ask questions through recitation.

Don’t expect them to discuss the material in front of the class, with a marker and visual
aids.

The questions may range from the simple like “What is property?” to the downright
absurd like “Let’s say that you are standing in a piece of cardboard in the middle of a
puddle. A thief walked by and stole your wallet. Is the piece of cardboard considered a
boat? Did the thief commit piracy?”

Practicals: Make sure that you are ready to study law! If you are not
committed, gauge your interest by at least enrolling in the first year of law school.
If it’s not for you, at least you have tried.

b. You need to learn how to read and  read fast.

You will spend 90% of your time reading laws, cases, notes, books, and articles.

Our laws are codified in more than a thousand statutes, with most of these laws having
children on their own in the form of implementing rules and guidelines. Aside from
these, we have a wealth of cases since 1901 that the Supreme Court has rendered
decisions and resolutions.

You have your notes, or your friend’s notes, or the notes made by your law school’s Bar
Operations. You have your hardbound textbooks, each almost two-inch-thick. Finally,
you have articles from law journals, from newspapers, and from online.

Practicals: Start reading NOW! It does not have to be a law book but it should be
more than reading your Facebook or Twitter feed. Make a habit out of reading
books, newspapers, and magazines.

 c. You need to know basic sentence construction.

From recitations to quizzes and finally the Bar Examinations, you need to practice and
review your English. Go over your grammar and basic style. In law school and even
after passing the Bar Examinations, you need to readily and briefly state the facts, the
issues, and the application of the law.

Practicals: Grab your old English textbook, practice online, or get Strunk and
White’s “The Elements of Style.” 
 

d. You need a proper study habit.

Some geniuses can pass law school with minimum reading and a lopsided study
schedule. Unfortunately, more likely than not, we are not these geniuses.

You need a proper study habit. Like Stephen King and his writing, you need to treat the
study of law as work. Work can be fun, but unless you are sick or otherwise
predisposed, you need to work every day, you need to work hard, and you need to work
for a length of time.

Practicals: Set a time for study or reading and a different time for leisure. Do not
confuse the two. Do not study while you are taking a break, but do not check
Facebook while you are studying. Check the Pomodoro style of studying and
make it work for you.

e. You need to practice your handwriting ASAP.

As of writing, 100% of the Bar Examinations is essay-type. This means that there is no
machine that will check if your answer is correct, no scanner that an intern will pass
your exam sheet to.

All of the booklets used during the Bar Examinations are read and checked by persons
like you and me. If they cannot read your answer because of your handwriting, even if
you are correct, you will lose points in an exam where one point means the difference
between passing and failing.

Make sure that your handwriting is neat, follows the margins of the page, and most
importantly, readable.

Practicals: Write! Take notes and prepare reviewers. Have a friend read your
handwriting and get some critique.

2. Obtain a bachelor’s degree from a recognized college or

university.
According to the Rules of Court, you need to take a bachelor’s degree in arts or
sciences with any of the following subjects as major or field of concentration:

 Political science
 Logic
 English
 Spanish
 History
 Economics
The above Rule, however, does not mean that only those who possess a bachelor’s
degree in Political Science, English, History, or Economics can enter law school or take
the Bar Examinations.

The Rule is construed to mean by the legal profession that you took the specific number
of units in the subjects above. This means that a person holding a bachelor’s degree in
Nursing, Applied Mathematics, Chemistry, or Physics may enter law school so long as
they have accumulated the required number of units in the subjects above.

READ: What is the best pre-law course in the Philippines?

Law schools have different criteria for accepting law students. For example, San Beda
University – College of Law requires that students earned 18 units of English, 18 units
of Social Sciences and 6 units of Mathematics.

If you do not have the required number of units, you may be conditionally accepted but
must satisfy the requirements before admission to second-year law. This means that
you may have to take summer classes during law school to reach the number of units
required.

3. Take the Philippine Law School Admission Test (PhiLSAT).

PhiLSAT, or the Philippine Law School Test, is an entrance exam separate and distinct
from the entrance exam of the law school itself.

It is conducted by the Legal Education Board (LEB) and is a prerequisite for
admission to the basic law courses leading to either a Bachelor of Laws or Juris
Doctor degree.

PhiLSAT is an aptitude exam – similar to an IQ exam – composed of four subjects:

Communications and Language Proficiency, Critical Thinking, Verbal Reasoning, and
Quantitative Reasoning.

Update:  In a 108-page decision released on December 3, 2019 , the Supreme Court

has officially declared as unconstitutional the orders and memorandums of the
Legal Education Board (LEB) that require aspiring law students to take up the
Philippine Law School Admission Test (PhilSAT), making permanent the temporary
restraining order it issued in March of the same year. Although PhilSAT will no longer
be mandatory, the court en banc through Associate Justice Jose C. Reyes Jr. said in a
statement that it’s still open to approve a more “standardized and acceptable law
admission examinations” that may be developed in the future.

4. Study law for four years in a recognized law school.

As explained earlier, the study of law normally incorporates the Socratic Method. The
typical law student studies on his own and by the time is called by the professor to
answer, already knows the material.

Your choice of law school, therefore, is important but not a necessity in passing
the Bar Examinations. If you have persistence, a good study habit, and courage,
together with some luck, you will pass the Bar Examinations no matter what law school
you come from.

READ: What are the best law schools in the Philippines?

5. Take and pass the Bar Examinations.

The Bar Examinations is a grueling four-day exam conducted by the Supreme Court.

It is normally given on all four Sundays every November in the City of

Manila (particularly the University of Sto. Tomas).

READ: How to Pass the Bar Exam in the Philippines: Tips from a Filipino Lawyer

Bar Exam Requirements.

As per the Rules, you have to be a resident of the Philippines, at least twenty-one
years of age, and of good moral character to qualify for the Bar Examinations. 

According to the Office of the Bar Confidant of the Supreme Court, applicants for the
Bar Examinations must file:

 A verified (signed) and notarized petition, a form of which is available at the

Office of the Bar Confidant;
 A copy of the applicant’s birth certificate;
 A copy of the marriage certificate for married female applicants;
 Two (2) testimonials of good moral character executed by a lawyer;
 The original or certified true copy of the applicant’s pre-law degree transcript;
 The original or certified true copy of the applicant’s law degree transcript;
 Certificate of no derogatory record;
 Certification by the school registrar executed under oath and noted by the Law
Dean that the applicant graduated a four (4) year law course and that his/her name is
included in the LEB Certification;
 Three (3) copies of latest un-retouched photos with name imprinted thereon; and
 A self-addressed stamped envelope.
There is a filing fee of P3,750.00. Normally, your law school will help you in
accomplishing the petition and its attachments. You need to consult with your school’s
registrar.

Bar Exam Subjects.

The Bar Exam is composed of eight subjects:

 Political and International Law

 Labor and Social Legislation.
 Civil Law.
 Taxation.
 Mercantile Law.
 Criminal Law.
 Remedial Law.
 Legal Ethics.
 

Bar Exam Passing Rate.

To pass, you need to obtain a general average of 75% in all subjects, without
falling below 50% in any subject. The Supreme Court, however, has the discretion to
change this passing average.

6. Take your oath and start practicing law.

One doesn’t automatically become a lawyer by just passing the Bar Exams.
You still have to take your oath in a ceremony before the Supreme Court Justices and
afterward sign your name in the Roll of Attorneys. Once you have signed your name
and obtained your Roll Number, you may be officially called a lawyer.

Then, you can already practice law! There are, however, some continuing requirements
that you have to accomplish as a member of the Philippine Bar in good standing:

 Pay your annual membership fee (P2,000) with the Integrated Bar of the
Philippines;
 Attend a Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) every three years; and
 Pay your professional tax with the City Hall.