Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 7662)
The title of the Act is the "Legal Education Reform Act of 1993."
The State aims to uplift the standards of legal education to prepare law students for advocacy, counseling, problem-solving, and decision-making; instill ethics of the legal profession; impress the importance, nobility, and dignity of the legal profession; and develop socially-committed lawyers with integrity and competence.
The general objectives include preparing students for the practice of law; increasing awareness of the needs of the poor and oppressed; training persons for leadership; and advancing justice and the improvement of the legal system and institutions.
Specific objectives include imparting broad knowledge of law; enhancing legal research abilities; preparing students for advocacy and counseling; developing competence in any field of law; inculcating ethics and responsibilities; and producing lawyers who adhere to ethical norms.
The Legal Education Board is a created body to administer legal education reforms, composed of a Chairman (preferably a former justice), representatives from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Philippine Association of Law Schools, Philippine Association of Law Professors, active law practitioners, law students, and the Secretary of the Department of Education as ex officio member.
They must be natural-born Filipino citizens, members of the Philippine Bar, who have practiced law and taught law for at least ten years, except for the law student representative.
They are appointed for a term of five years without reappointment, with staggered initial terms assigned to some members.
The Board administers the legal education system, supervises law schools, sets accreditation standards, prescribes minimum qualifications for faculty, establishes internship requirements, adopts continuing legal education systems, and issues necessary rules and regulations.
A law school must be accredited by the Legal Education Board and recognized by the government.
The Board may withdraw or downgrade the school's accreditation status, effective after the lapse of the next semester or trimester unless deficiencies are corrected.
It is a special endowment fund controlled by the Board, established from appropriations, 60% of the privilege tax paid by lawyers, and other contributions. The fund supports legal education programs and Board operations, with only interest earnings used for these purposes.
The Act applies to all existing and future law schools and colleges under the supervision of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports, with supervision transferred to the Legal Education Board.
One million pesos is charged against the current year's appropriation of the Contingent Fund, with an annual appropriation of ten million pesos for ten years thereafter under the Department of Education's budget.
The invalidity of a provision or its application does not affect the validity or applicability of the remaining provisions.
It took effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette or two newspapers of general circulation.