the lawyer and legal education (finshed)

8/9/2019 The Lawyer and Legal Education (Finshed)

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The Lawyer and Legal Education

Ricardo J. Romulo

President of the Integrated Bar of thePhilippines

Education: BA at Georgetown University

1955

Doctor of Laws atHarvard University 1958


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Golden Age of Filipino Lawyers

(and how to capture it)

How to project law not simply as a TRADE but asa social agency for sharing rules and adjudicatingdisputes

How to develop deep concern for thebeneficent use of law in the public interest


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According to Romulo

A lawyer, except in rare instances, is the

product of law school he attended.


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The Golden Age

The genius of the Philippines Bar was that it

effected the transition by building as best as it

could in the past, rather than by breaking with

it and starting anew.

Lawyers are flooding !!!!!

They overflowed the confines of their

profession into society business, and most

notably, into politics


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While lawyers flood

The profession reaped many benefits from the

talents of the remarkable lawyers of the

period. The groups as a whole earned the

respect and confidence which it was accorded.

BUT . After the Second World War


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The prestige of the profession has suffered grievously .

Somehow, we LOST OUR TRADITION of public service in thebroadest sense of that word, an we no longer felt as deeplyresponsible towards society as our illustrious predecessors.


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The lawyer became cast (unfairly I believe) in

the role either as a pettifogging scrivener or a

champion of reactionary, vested interest.


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There is no other profession that deals so

intimately with the accumulation, distribution

and defense of power, that draws in the other

professions in the formation of public policy,

conflict resolution and national planning.


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Traditional Law School

THIS usually means that by the time a student

graduates, he must have a good grasp of the

important laws of the land, be able to speak,

write and comprehend legal language and

understand legal concepts and modes of

thought.

The ability to think like a lawyer


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The primary method of instruction

in the classroom is by RECITATION

A system found to be most effective indeveloping the students power of analysis,

reasoning ability and facility of expression.


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What faculty does.

The faculty assist the

students in the

determination of the

correct interpretation

and practical application

of legal theories and

provisions


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QUESTION

Has this system, at least, produced lawyers

produced lawyers technically competent in

their profession?

ANSWER: The continued high rate of

failures in the yearly bar examinations

(71.32% of the 1972 Bar Examinationsfailed) is the empirical evidence of that

system is a failure.


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The Conference on Legal Education by

Ateneo Law School as far back asFebruary 1963 unfortunately supports

the foregoing conclusion

1 ) failure of lawyers to live up to their

professional obligations

2 ) the development of the law students memory

rather than his skill in legal analysis and reasoning 3) legal education seems to consist of mere

spoonfeeding of pre digested information


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The failure is written at large court

records

Evasion to the sworn duty to defend the poorand defenseless on the flimsiest of excuses resort to technicalities and delay

Converts litigation into wars of attrition groundless suits and appeals

Abandonment of client without courtesy of a

notice to them or to court. (source:Justice jbl reyes, XII Ateneo Law

Journal No 4. pp 315-316)


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According to Judge de Vera

For the present there is no remedy- so long as

the backlog of defective students take Bar

Examination, we must have NECESSARILY HAVE A

HIGH MORTALITY RATE.

Although it may sound cruel to suggest it, the

new rule that after three failures, a candidatemust take a one-year refresher course would not

solve the problem- BUT would prolong the agony.


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According to Judge Jesus de Veyra

We suggest that a two year course in logic and

English, with a refresher course in law would

be a happier solution.

He decries the students deficiency in

language. This is a sad fact and to admit and it

cannot be denied.


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According to Dr. Sotero H. Laurel

Mention is made of the apparent undue

emphasis the law schools lay on memory

work. The observation is founded, BUT the

method impelled by the type of questions

asked in the Bar Examinations.


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Dean Feliciano Ledesma

I sat that the over emphasis on memorization,

one of the main defects of legal education in

this country, is mainly attributed to the bar

examinations, which lay more emphasis on

memory work rather than reasoning.

(should we then skip Bar Exam?)


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Requirements

LSAT (formulated to gauge the individuals

capacity to read, to understand, and to reason

logically with a variety of verbal, quantitative

and symbolic materials)

Pre legal grades

College Deans recommendation


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Law School Admission Test

All Philippine law schools should adopt some

form of a law school admission tests

(hereinafter LSAT) similar to that being used

by the United States

Currently, it is called (LQST, ask for the

meaning)


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According to Justice Roman Ozaeta

I believe it (high percentage of failures in the

bar exam) is due mainly to their

unsuitableness for the law career, their innate

incapacity to think rationally and to express

their ideas clearly and cogently. As I see it. The

problem for the legal educators to solve is not

what and how to teach, BUT to select andadmit to the law classes only those students

who possess the aptitude of law as a career.


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Question

Who among here would rely and mainly on

self study and not really listen to the teacher

100% during ordinary class discussion?


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New Teaching Methods

Be judiciously combined with the socratic

question-answer, discussion method, were

through skillful questioning and discussion the

teacher leads a student to critically analyze

and dissect legal principles and decision for

himself.


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Thus, all technique of spoon-feeding or

attempts to spare the students of original

research and self study should be avoided.

While to some point, oral recitation is

unavoidable, it should be ..


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Socratic Method

The Socratic method (or Method of Elenchus or Socratic Debate),named after the Classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form ofinquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpointsbased on asking and answering questions to stimulate criticalthinking and to illuminate ideas.[1] It is a dialectical method, often

involving an oppositional discussion in which the defence of onepoint of view is pitted against the defence of another; oneparticipant may lead another to contradict him in some way,strengthening the inquirer's own point. (Think about the questionbefore you speak.)

From wikipedia.com


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Socratic Method- is to develop crucial legalanalytic skill, to accustom the student to thelawyers adversary style of exchange, and tpprovide a forum in forum in which the studentspeaks in public.

Socratic role played by the teacher typicallyinvolves a strategy in which it is hoped that a

deeper analysis and understanding us achievedby a critical dissection of initial reactions andconclusions supplied by the students.


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Greater use of seminars coupled with

programmed exercises should be attempted

since this would allow more extensive in-

depth study and discussion of a subject

matter.


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Exercises should be designed in a given subjectasking questions without guidance thenthereafter step by step through a series of sub

questions, then instructors answers are thengiven.

By taking it step by step, the student is broughton to deal with legal problems he wasnt able to

deal with by himself handle counseling and negotiations rather than

litigation


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Clinical Education

Is the best of both world, as used in the US

This method is similar to the Socratic question

and answer, discussion, or role play method. Its not a subject, it depends on how the

students experience is organized.

Epistemology and psychology

Common sense notion of learning by doing

Greatly increases the students motivation


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Lawyering process

Scenario on the phone when he talks to a

troubled person (think of a situation)

What the lawyer does:

A ) he has acted as a judge

B ) he may have deprived a laborer in a direneed

C ) litigation may result from his advice


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Knowing (perhapsmemorizing) theLaw is half way,what matters iswhat happens toreal liferelationship and tomake society a

better place (bycounselingtroubled people)


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Perhaps, the best way to teach the lawyeringprocess is to start where all legal problems begin-

the law office.

BRING THE LAW OFFICE TO THE CLASSROOM

At the University of Southern California we have aLaw Office Classroom, which is used as asimulated law office activities involving thedecisional process of a lawyer.

Video tapes of these simulated consultations arebeing used as a teaching material in some lawschools.


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Supreme Court Cooperation

The supreme court mustpare down the numberof required Bar subjectsto the basic law courses;otherwise the numberof electives which astudent can take will bemuch reduced.

Bar examinationquestions should have a

metamorphosis avoidMERE test of memorybut go for the test ofABILITY TO REASON


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Lawyer and Legal Education

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the lawyer and legal education (finshed)

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