Update: See complete list of 2009 – 2010 Philippine Bar Exam Passers here!

The Philippine Bar Examination is the professional licensure examination for lawyers in the Philippines. It is the only professional licensure exam in the country that is not supervised by the Professional Regulation Commission. The exam is exclusively administered by the Supreme Court of the Philippines through the Supreme Court Bar Examination Committee.

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Law schools with the highest bar passing rates from 1996 to 2005 include:

Ateneo de Manila Law School – 89.19%
San Beda College of Law – 85.27%
University of the Philippines College of Law – 85.19%
University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law – 56.70%
Far Eastern University Institute of Law – 26.25%

Results of the 2009 Bar Exams should be published by the Supreme Court by the end of March 2010 or first week of April 2010. Please bookmark or subscribe to this site so we can notify you once the list has been released.


Updates!

2009 Bar Exams: 1,451 Pass; Passing Percentage Lowered

March 26, 2010
By Jay B. Rempillo & Annie Rose A. Laborte

A total of 1,451 out of the 5,903 examinees from 108 law schools nationwide passed the 2009 Bar examinations. The results will be released at around 6 p.m. today.

Justice Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura, chair of the 2009 Committee on Bar Examinations, disclosed that the number of those who passed represented 24.58% of the total examinees. The exams were administered through Deputy Clerk of Court and Bar Confidant Atty. Ma. Cristina B. Layusa.

For the 2009 Bar exams, Justice Nachura said that the passing rate was lowered from 75% to 71%, while the disqualification grade in Taxation has been lowered from 49% to 45%.

Justice Nachura announced that the examiners are Atty. Sixto S. Brillantes, Jr. and Atty. Jeremy I. Gatdula (Political and International Law), Court of Appeals (CA) Justice Vicente S.E. Veloso and Atty. Pablo R. Cruz (Labor and Social Legislation), Justice Alicia V. Sempio-Diy (ret.) and Court Administrator Zenaida N. Elepaño (ret.) (Civil Law), Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) Presiding Justice Ernesto D. Acosta and Atty. Edwin R. Abella (Taxation), CA Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando and Atty. Hector Danny D. Uy (Mercantile Law), Sandiganbayan Justice Edilberto G. Sandoval and CA Justice Mario V. Lopez (Criminal Law), Sandiganbayan Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo and CA Justice Magdangal M. De Leon (Remedial Law), and Sandiganbayan Justice Samuel R. Martires and CA Justice Noel G. Tijam (Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises).

The list of successful Bar examinees simultaneously will be shown on three LCD monitors strategically set up at the Supreme Court front yard and can simultaneously be viewed at sc.judiciary.gov.ph, the official website of the Supreme Court.

In the last decade, the highest passing rate was posted in 2001 with 32.89%, while the lowest was in 2002 with 19.68%. The highest passing percentage of all time though in 1954 with 75.17%, while the lowest was in 1999 with 16.59%.

The 2009 Bar exams marked the first time that not one but two examiners were designated as examiners in each of the eight Bar examination subjects. Thus, every Bar subject would be divided into two parts, with each designated examiner assigned a specific scope.

In February 2009, the SC, upon the recommendation of the Committee on Legal Education and Bar Matters, decided to implement the two-examiners per subject policy.

The Supreme Court annually conducts the Bar examinations pursuant to its constitutional mandate to promulgate rules governing, among others, the admission to the practice of law.

The Bar exams are traditionally held in four consecutive Sundays of September but the High Court had to reset to October 4, 2009 the last exam week due to the widespread flooding brought about by Typhoon Ondoy.

The Rules of Court provide that “a candidate may be deemed to have passed his examination successfully if he has obtained a general average of 75% in all subjects without falling below 50% in any subject.” In determining the average, subjects in the examinations are given the following relative weights: Political and International Law, 15%; Labor and Social Legislation, 10%; Civil Law, 15%; Taxation, 10%; Mercantile Law, 15%; Criminal Law, 10%; Remedial Law, 20%; and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, 5%, for a total of 100%.

The 2009 Bar Examinations were held on September 6, 13, and 20; and October 4, 2009 at the De La Salle University in Taft Avenue, Manila.

The first Bar exams were held in 1901, with 13 examinees.

Update: See complete list of 2009 – 2010 Philippine Bar Exam Passers here!