Philippine Bar Examinations

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.

The first Philippine Bar Exams was conducted in 1901 with only thirteen (13) examinees. The third Philippine Bar Exam took place in 1903 but the results were released in 1905. Jose I. Quintos obtained the highest rating of 96.33%, Sergio Osmena, Sr. was second with 95.66%, F. Salas was third with 94.5% and Manuel L.Quezon fourth with 87.83%. The first bar exam in 1901 has only 13 examinees, while the 2008 bar examination is the 107th (given per Article 8, Section 5, 1987 Constitution). The 2001 bar exam had the highest number of passers—1,266 out of 3,849 examinees, or 32.89%, while 2006 had the highest examinees -.6,187. However, the Supreme Court of the Philippines' Office of the Bar Confidant announced that (a new and official record of) 6,533 law graduates will take the 2008 Bar examinations. No examination took place in 1942 and 1943 due to the outbreak of World War II.

The most notable was the 1999 bar examinations which recorded the lowest passing rate of 16.59% or with a total number of 660 successful examinees. Also, the 2003 bar exam was marred by controversy when the Court ordered a retake of the Mercantile law due to questionnaire leakage. In 2005, the High Tribunal implemented the "five-strike" rule, which disqualifies five-time flunkers from taking future bar exams.

A bar candidate must meet the following academic qualifications:

He or she should also meet certain non-academic requisites:

In March 2010 the Philippine Supreme Court Issued Bar Matter 1153 amending provisions in sec 5 and 6 of rule 138 of the rules of court now allowing Filipino foreign law school graduates to take the bar exam provided that they comply with the following: a. completion of all courses leading to a degree of Bachelor of laws or its equivalent b. recognition or accreditation of the law school by proper authority c. completion of all fourth year subjects in a program of a law school duly accredited by the Philippine Government d. present proof of completing a separate bachelor's degree

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